Transformers: Hive of Cybertron
by DarkQuasar
Summary: Bridging the gap between the first series and Transformers: The Movie, the story introduces the group of movie characters that no one had seen before. [*Chapter 6 is up*]
1. Chapter 1

Obviously I don't own the Transformers, but this is the way of things.  
  
Just a couple of notes before I begin: This story is based on the US Transformers cartoon from the beginning of the series up until the movie. I do not take the comic books, Beast Wars/Machines, or anything else into account other than what was shown in the TV series. I have taken a couple of minor liberties with how the technology works. As technical matters were mostly glossed over and inconsistent at best in the series I worked out what I think most logically works (and, of course, what works best for the story). I have done quite a bit of research for this story, so everything should be accurate.  
  
This is a work in progress and it's very long (currently over 100 pages in MS Word at a 10pt font, and growing). I have many other chapters already written and if the story is liked, I'll post them too. If all goes well you should be able to read my story and then watch Transformers: The Movie and the transition should be seamless.hopefully. It's been slow going now for a while so I figure I'd post it where people could actually read it and give me some honest feedback. Perhaps it will give me the push I need in order to finish it. Now, on to the story.  
  
  
  
  
  
Chapter 01  
  
  
  
  
  
The explosion was utterly silent. The bright flashes of laser fire and blossoming spires of flame presented themselves with all the sound of a vacuum. A gray-winged fighter jet swooped briefly into the field of view and then vanished followed by several others. A retreat. The scene on the small monitor began to slow as it made its way jarringly to a halt.  
  
Megatron, leader of the Decepticons, stood in front of a small viewscreen, his imposing, gleaming white and gray form was silhouetted by a large viewscreen behind him. The same frozen images emblazoned upon it as were on the smaller monitors embedded in the surrounding walls. Congregated in the Decepticon War Room inside their deep-sea command center was the rest of his pathetic army. Megatron had opted to make this presentation of his army's lack of skills without the aid of sound so that corrections and berating could take place. With a hiss a panel opened on a wall behind him and what appeared to be an audio cassette emerged, propelled through the air by an unseen force. The cassette, for an instant, seemed as though it began to fall apart, but then, as though correcting itself, pieces moved and servos spun and its form was altered from a recording device into that of a mechanical bird. Lazerbeak.  
  
"Seven," Megatron said as Lazerbeak came to rest on his weaponless left arm. "Seven raids on the Autobot power station and every one a failure! Not a one of you even managed to return with one iota of energy!" Disgusted, he turned toward Soundwave, the Decepticon communications officer, and with a gesture, sent Lazerbeak back to his master. The robotic hawk traveled the short distance between the two and at the last moment transformed back to the cassette form and slid neatly into Soundwave's chest receptacle. "I'm surrounded by incompetence," Megatron said with a gesture toward the army at large.  
  
The sound of a heavy, metallic footfall turned Megatron's attention to the left side of the room. Starscream stepped forward, every inch of him full of his usual arrogance. His swept back, red-striped gray wings added to his look of defiance. "If your strategy was sound, Megatron, we would have been successful on the first raid. You are the incompetent fool." He walked closer to his leader pointing to himself. "You only make excuses for your own ineptitude."  
  
Calmly, Megatron said, "Starscream, the only incompetence I have displayed was placing you in command of the operation. I should have my neurons overhauled to have done such a thing." He walked back to the viewscreen and punched some keys. "Now I am in no mood for your traitorous behavior, so shut up." Apparently sensing the seriousness of the moment Starscream stood down. Satisfied that the incident had been quelled, at least for the moment, Megatron pressed a final switch on the panel beside him and a wire-frame image replaced the scene of defeat on the main screen.  
  
After studying the monitor in silence for a time Megatron turned back to his forces. "There will be a training session tonight, whereupon we will work to remedy your collective idiocy. For now, get on with your duties and out of my sight until you are called upon." With that, the assembly dissipated, leaving Megatron to prepare the rest of his battle plans.  
  
After the majority of the forces had fled, Megatron approached a large table in the center of the room upon which several holographic images hovered. The table projected images of the base of a volcano, which had what appeared to be the rear half of a large spacecraft protruding from it. It was this crashed starship that the Autobots used as their headquarters. Many of the Decepticons, including himself, had arrived on this miserable planet in that very same ship. When he thought of the enormous amount of time he and his warriors had spent on that ship completely dormant it made his fluids boil. Hundreds of thousands of Earth years wasted when he could have been draining this planet dry of energy, and not an Autobot to stop him. Pushing aside his frustration, Megatron activated a switch on the edge of the display and the hologram rotated and shifted. It now pictured the surrounding area, which most importantly contained the position of the power station, the current main focus of the Decepticons.  
  
The power station had been constructed as an expression of gratitude to the Autobots. Megatron's enemies had been given the resources and permission to build such a source of power by the viruses that were indigenous to the Earth-humans. The humans seemed to coddle the blasted Autobots at every turn, looking to them for advice and even going so far as to revere them as heroes. In a bitter rage, Megatron slammed his metallic fist on the console and the hologram winked out. He turned to face the rest of the room, eager to proceed and crush his foes with finality.  
  
A few trusted others had remained-by Megatron's own choosing-to revise attack plans. Soundwave, of course, was there to offer his ever-loyal services. Also, on hand was Onslaught, leader of the ruthless and overly militaristic Combaticons, and Scrapper who led the Constructicons. Starscream, however, was not present this time, Megatron noted with more than a little satisfaction. At least the arrogant fool was intelligent enough to realize he was no longer wanted on the strategies team without being told, especially after his outburst of mutinous behavior. Once enough of the commotion from the exodus had died down Megatron keyed the hologram on once again and indicated that they could begin.  
  
Onslaught was the first to step forward and offer his brand of strategy. "From this vantage point," he said, pointing at the top of a large outcropping on the holographic map, "we can attack the fringes of the resistance." The Combaticon leader proudly took a step back from the display and looked around to insure everyone understood.  
  
Scrapper stepped closer, all too eager to find flaws in any plans. "However, you seem to forget, Onslaught, that three raids prior we attempted a variation on that strategy and it accomplished little." Onslaught appeared slightly confused so Scrapper invited himself to elaborate. "The center of the Autobot defenses are based around their power station, protected doubly so on the fringes. I believe a full assault with all of our firepower focused here," he pointed to the map with a green-plated metallic finger, "will breach their defense system with the most efficiency."  
  
Onslaught just looked away and muttered, "I was designed for combat, not fancy strategic stuff. Just call me back when you have something for me to shoot at." His pride damaged he walked out of the room. Megatron let him go, he hadn't been adding much to the plans and was quick to become confused, slowing them down when time was of the essence. They had to press forward. He was about to discuss Scrapper's plan further when Soundwave spoke.  
  
"Megatron," Soundwave said in his multi-pitched voice, "there is a communiqué from Cybertron."  
  
"On screen," Megatron commanded, irritation seeping into his voice. There was simply too much to do and he did not want or need any interruptions. Obediently, Soundwave keyed the screen and an image of Shockwave blazed into life. Shockwave had been left in command on Cybertron ever since the Decepticons had followed the Autobots to the miserable planet of Earth countless centuries ago. Fortunately, during Megatron's extended absence the Decepticons that remained on Cybertron, far more than the small faction that had pursued their enemies across the stars, were able to crush the Autobots on Cybertron and seize victory. Megatron often wished that he could have been present to watch Optimus Prime's reaction to the destruction of his friends and allies on their homeworld when the Autobots had made that first trip back to Cybertron.  
  
The Autobot's victory on Earth had created a stalemate for them. They could not return home without vanquishing the Deceptions first, otherwise the people of Earth would be left unable to defend themselves against these alien invaders. Megatron felt a sadistic sense of glee rise within him each time he thought of this, knowing that the Autobots were as much prisoners on this planet as they were themselves. On the monitor, Shockwave waited patiently. "Go ahead, Shockwave."  
  
"Lord Megatron," Shockwave began, "I have significant progress to report in our new technologies research." Ever since the Decepticon dominance of Cybertron they have had complete access to all its precious resources, and thus the ability to research new weapons with which to conquer other worlds in the galaxy-all the worlds-as was their purpose. However, the Autobot threat was still present as a rebellion and none of those resources or warriors can be sent to Earth to aid Megatron and his fight.  
  
When nothing more was forthcoming Megatron demanded, "Well? Report it! We are extremely busy so make it brief!"  
  
"My Lord, several areas of research that had been long abandoned because of the war have recently been reopened. It is in one of these areas that we have made the significant breakthrough. I firmly believe that this is something that you must witness for yourself, Lord." Shockwave stiffened a bit, stood slightly more straight, more official, "Lord Megatron, I request that you come to Cybertron to personally view this new insight."  
  
"We do not have the energies to spare for frivolous trips to Cybertron just so I can see your new toys, Shockwave." Megatron turned away from the communications screen, "This no longer interests me. Contact me again when you have something consequential to report."  
  
Shockwave became uncharacteristically insistent, "Forgive me my liege, but this is something that you will be able to bring back with you and use to crush the Autobots with finality."  
  
Intrigued by Shockwave's insistence he agreed to hear more, but even more surprisingly he was reluctant to tell more over the communication. "You must see this in person, Megatron. I do not wish the Autobots to intercept this transmission."  
  
"Bah! The Autobots do not even know the location of this fortress, let alone the minimal possibility that they are monitoring our communications. Don't be so paranoid, Shockwave."  
  
"Lord, it is not the Autobots on your Earth with which I am concerned. I know factually that the Autobots here on Cybertron are very much able to intercept Decepticon transmissions. As of now we are not sure of the location of the interception, but it is being investigated currently."  
  
Megatron watched the pulsing of Shockwave's voice chip and took in every word. Should he take this trip when it could turn out to be four nothing? Yet, Shockwave had never requested his presence before, nor could Megatron remember Shockwave sounding so unquestioningly confident about anything, let alone a new weapon. Shockwave was skeptical about everything, much as Megatron was himself. It was one of the reasons that he has left Shockwave in command. "Very well," Megatron conceded, "I will power the space bridge for transport and come to Cybertron. But know this: If this is a waste of my time and my energy you will regret it a thousand fold."  
  
"Understood, Lord Megatron."  
  
"Transmit the coordinates to Soundwave. I will arrive shortly. Megatron, out." The image of Shockwave was replaced by the sharp-angled Deception insignia on a black background-the Cybertronian symbol for war. He stalked out of the room, his feet resonating loudly on the floor plates. The amount of energy that the space bridge trip will cost will set back their next raid by weeks, perhaps months. It had best be worth his time.  
  
He collected a small entourage for his journey and arrived in the transport room as Soundwave was finishing the space bridge's activation sequence. "All is ready Megatron," Soundwave announced.  
  
"Excellent, Soundwave. You will be in command during my brief absence."  
  
"As you command, Megatron."  
  
Megatron turned to the two others he brought with him. "Thundercracker. Skywarp. You are going to accompany me on this journey. Come on, let's get this over with."  
  
They stepped into the center of the waist-high, metal circle with Thundercracker and Skywarp in tow. Once all three of them were inside it's perimeter Soundwave closed the entrance, completely enclosing them inside the confines of the space bridge. Thundercracker mumbled something about feeling trapped, to which Skywarp said nothing.  
  
The space bridge was the only way to get back to Cybertron without a starship. While the space bridge used a great deal of energy, taking a starship back to Cybertron would have used all of what little resources the Decepticons possessed. The most frustrating part of the space bridge, however, was its inability to transport energy. Any energies that are sent through are dissipated en route. All of Cybertron's energy at the other end of the bridge and none of it was at their disposal. Moreover, the activation of the space bridge consumed large amounts of energy on both ends so that it was impossible for Cybertron to send aid in the form of either reinforcements or weapons or even equipment to with which the Decepticons could build their own power station. The entire endeavor reminded Megatron bitterly of what he had yet to accomplish and what the trip was costing the Decepticons.  
  
"Activating space bridge now, Megatron," Soundwave announced.  
  
Space-time around the three Decepticons warped and spun in on itself for a moment. For a human it would have been harmfully disorienting, more proof of their inferiority, more reason that the Decepticons should rule them and their planet. A virtual tunnel formed above of the three of them and then they were pulled through-or perhaps the tunnel fell onto them-and then they were falling upward, seemingly defying the laws of physics. The tunnel was only an impression; there was nothing physical to it, almost as though they were in the center of a focus of energy. If they were to leave the confines of its "walls" they would be thrown into oblivion. They came upon the halfway point of their trip, which was marked by a feeling of falling replacing the feeling of rising. Moments later there was a swirl of purple light that dispersed quickly and they were on Cybertron, their homeworld.  
  
They were standing in the middle of a structure similar to the one they left from Earth. A door slid open and admitted Shockwave who keyed a release giving Megatron and his companions an exit from the ring of the space bridge and admittance to the room at large. Shockwave approached the trio. "Welcome home, Lord, to your rightful-"  
  
"Spare the pleasantries and show me why you dragged me away from my important work, Shockwave," Megatron said irritably.  
  
"Very well," Shockwave said without the slightest hint that he had been put off. "If you will follow me," and he led them out of the room.  
  
The design of the installation was much the same as his own complex on Earth. Here, however, the labyrinthine corridors wove on endlessly, or so it seemed to Megatron who was impatient to get this over with. Finally, Shockwave stopped in front of a large security door and punched in a code. The door split down the middle and slid back to either side, revealing another door about five paces behind it. Shockwave performed a similar ritual at this door and it opened in much the same way, only this time access to the research lab was beyond.  
  
The research facility was quite impressive and Megatron found himself longing for a similar complex on Earth. There were Decepticon scientists just about everywhere performing myriad tasks, most were too absorbed in their work to notice his passing, those that did notice him stood aside and gave him the respect that the Decepticon commander warranted. Under other circumstances Megatron would have been angered that so many in the room were ignoring him, but right now, eager to be gone, he did not care. Shockwave led the three of them to yet another door, which required a key card as well as an access code to get through. The room on the other side of the door was dark, but this was quickly remedied as Shockwave activated the lights. The room was divided in half by a wall of glass; it seemed to be a tank of some sort. On the other side of the wall there was a formless metallic-colored mass.  
  
"Megatron," Shockwave began, "we have discovered a technology with infinite possibilities." He gestured toward the metallic blob on the opposite side of the glass. "This is our breakthrough."  
  
"This mass of disgust?" Megatron said bitterly. "I warned you about wasting my time, Shockwave." In response Thundercracker and Skywarp focused their respective weapon sights on Shockwave.  
  
Calm as ever, Shockwave proceeded. "You misunderstand, Lord. This is nanotechnology, an area of research that was abandoned during the war because of the its unpredictability and difficulty to control."  
  
"And I suppose you have managed to correct that and have learned to control it, Shockwave?"  
  
"Yes, Lord Megatron. If you would allow me to explain."  
  
Megatron studied the shifting gray accumulation. It seemed that he could see forms shift in and out of being within the writhing mass. He found himself wondering what the material was made of, what its properties were. It may be a substance that was indestructible or equally powerful, if only he could mold it into what he wished. He was lost in the possibilities and he discovered that he wanted to know more and Shockwave was the one to provide him with that information. "Very well, Shockwave. Proceed." His eyes never left the nanotechnology.  
  
"Excellent, my liege. First, I believe it would be best if I were to inform you of the past surrounding this particular technology." When Megatron offered no further argument he began.  
  
"Before the war and into its early stages nanotechnology was being researched by top Decepticon weapons developers and scientists. This branch of research was abandoned due to energy constraints as well as the greater need to create weapons that would more directly deal with the elimination of the Autobots as well as more practical methods of defense. Now that the Autobots have been beaten back we have been able to resurrect some of the old areas of research.  
  
"When the Decepticons first returned to this facility the nanotechnology was rediscovered. It had not been touched since the complex was abandoned. When the project records were evaluated it was discovered that the nanotechnology was far more advanced than it had been at the time when the facility was closed. This was found to mean that the technology was, in a sense, researching and developing itself.  
  
"Once brought back online, the super-intelligent microcomputers that comprise the nanotechnology began to take control of the computer systems on their own, not only in this laboratory but all over the planet. After a painstaking battle the scientists were finally able to purge the nanotechs and take them offline. The reason of the loss of control was soon found.  
  
"Nanotechs were able to evolve to a point, even before power was restored to them. However, this was proven to be a finite evolution. Once they had power again, they began to advance and evolve exponentially, gaining intelligence at an incredible rate. They learned more about our own computer systems and networks than we knew ourselves in but a fraction of the time. Although dangerous, our scientists recognized the potential for a devastating weapon. The question remained on how to control them for our needs.  
  
"After a some time one of our scientists was able to accomplish this. Through experiments in a controlled environment it was learned that a terminator could be programmed into the nanotechs' systems that would be assimilated without their knowledge. This termination program allowed our scientists to choose how far the nanotechs could evolve and how intelligent they became. This was very important to ensure that they did not grow to overthrow us. Control was key.  
  
"Through much work we managed to coerce the nanotechnology into developing into the form of robots, much like ourselves. Thirty-six robots to be exact, my Lord. All of which posses a collective intelligence, as it the nature of nanotechnology. What one of the robots sees, they all see. What one of them knows, they all know. It is this new warrior, who we have named 'Swarm,' that will definitely be key to the destruction of the Autobots," Shockwave said proudly. "Observe, Lord Megatron." He turned to the side and activated a panel release, revealing an antechamber. "Swarm, come forward for Commander Megatron."  
  
Out of the antechamber came thirty-six a small robots, each about the size of a human. Megatron viewed the robots with disgust. They were barely higher than his knees and they all looked identical. Their steel gray forms were striped with deep blue on their arms from shoulder to wrist and from thigh to ankle. Their hands and feet were black and they wore what appeared to be armor on their shoulders and bracers on their forearms, these too were black. The heads were framed by a thick, black helmet-like adornment. On their square, barrel chests the hard and angular symbol of the Decepticon army was emblazoned. They were pitiful. "This is all you have to show me, Shockwave? All of your research and development of 'lost technologies' and you present me with this? They hardly look formidable. Why not give me an army of humans with which to fight the Autobots?" Thundercracker and Skywarp muttered and chuckled amongst themselves at the appearance the new forces.  
  
"Yes, my Lord, I agree. Compared to some of our forces like Menasor or Bruticus these appear fragile. Although, Lord, who better than us knows that looks can be deceiving." This was a logic with which Megatron was forced to agree. He reevaluated Shockwave's new creations. "Observe, Megatron."  
  
The thirty-six robots began to transform. Dividing into groups of six, the robots combined-it did not seem to matter which ones combined with which-and when they had finished only six robots stood before the Decepticon commander. Each of the new robots stood as tall as any of the Decepticons in his command and each were comprised of six of the smaller. Strangely, their appearance did not change, they looked exactly like the smaller originals-the only visible difference was in size.  
  
Then, after a final command from Shockwave, the six began to transform and combine once again-shifting and connecting in various ways-until the final product was yielded, one gigantic robot, several times taller than any of those present. It still looked the same as the original form and the size of this new robot was comparable to Devastator. Skywarp took an awed step backwards and Thundercracker nearly bolted from the room, but was restrained by his partner before he managed to get halfway to the door.  
  
Megatron now saw a formidable weapon before him. A new gestalt soldier would even the odds against the Autobots who had warriors the likes of Superion, Defensor, and Omega Supreme. Up until now his forces were matched evenly in the gestalt arena; even outmatched when the Autobots added the brute force of the infernal Dinobots to the mix. He felt his anger rise as he thought about this, but it quickly subsided as he viewed Swarm in his full and final form; his thoughts of rage were replaced with vengeance. If this new creation held as half as much firepower as Shockwave boasted and was a formidable in battle as it appeared . . . perhaps this trip was not a wasted after all.  
  
Shockwave must have noticed his leader's approving demeanor and said, "As I mentioned, Swarm has a collective intelligence, which makes him extremely adaptable to all situations. He has also been programmed to obey you explicitly, the ability to accept commands from me will be wiped from his memory before you bring him back to Earth. Furthermore, Swarm's very nature is that of the nanotechnology that he was derived from, thus he strives for perfection in everything he does. This was the reason thirty- six members must be used to comprise his being. Thirty-six is, after all, a perfect square. We could not allow him to get any smaller, for functional and practical reasons as well as the main reason of his ability to advance, which I'm sure you have concluded in your wisdom, Lord. If we had allowed him to be broken down any further it is probable that he would figure out on its own how to bypass the termination program. If that were to happen . . . well the results would be disastrous."  
  
"Enough of this, Shockwave," Megatron broke in. He was all too eager to use his new soldier in combat. "When will Swarm be ready for battle?"  
  
Shockwave said, "He is ready as you see him now, my Lord. He is yours to take with you whenever you wish. We will simply delete my ability to order him out of his memory, making you his sole commander." Shockwave busied himself with a keyboard.  
  
Megatron turned to Thundercracker and Skywarp, "What do you two think of this creation?"  
  
Uncertain on how to answer Thundercracker blurted, "He scares me, Megatron. Something about him is creepy."  
  
"Yeah," Skywarp chimed, "He just stands there like he's waiting for something. He has no expression or anything. He hasn't even said anything yet."  
  
Shockwave finished with his work at the computer terminal returned the group and faced the two Decepticon jets. "Of course he is waiting for something, you fools. He is waiting for orders, waiting for information. Swarm lives for gathering information-any information. The reason he has not spoken as of yet is because he will not unless it is necessary. If Megatron orders Swarm to speak, then he will. If Megatron demands an answer from Swarm it will be forthcoming." He turned to Megatron. "Lord Megatron, Swarm is now ready for transport to the Earth."  
  
Megatron looked over his prize greedily as it deconstructed itself into six units, as Megatron commanded for simpler traveling. It would take less energy on the Earth end or the bridge to transport nine, including- Megatron, Thundercracker and Skywarp-as opposed to thirty-nine. Sadistically, he thought about how the Autobots would be crushed and the Earth would then be his for the taking, and all of its resources and energy. "You have done well, Shockwave. I will be taking Swarm back to Earth immediately. I regret that I cannot stay longer and evaluate your other projects, but I have a planet to conquer." Commanding Swarm to follow him back to the space bridge he began to laugh the maniacal laughter that came with assured victory. 


	2. Chapter 2

Obviously I don't own the Transformers, but this is the way of things.  
  
Just a couple of notes before I begin: This story is based on the US Transformers cartoon from the beginning of the series up until the movie. I do not take the comic books, Beast Wars/Machines, or anything else into account other than what was shown in the TV series. I have taken a couple of minor liberties with how the technology works. As technical matters were mostly glossed over and inconsistent at best in the series I worked out what I think most logically works (and, of course, what works best for the story). I have done quite a bit of research for this story, so everything should be accurate.  
  
This is a work in progress and it's very long (currently over 100 pages in MS Word at a 10pt font, and growing). I have many other chapters already written and if the story is liked, I'll post them too. If all goes well you should be able to read my story and then watch Transformers: The Movie and the transition should be seamless.hopefully. It's been slow going now for a while so I figure I'd post it where people could actually read it and give me some honest feedback. Perhaps it will give me the push I need in order to finish it. Clearly you should see Chapter One before you read this one. Now, on to the story:  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Chapter 02  
  
  
  
  
  
In the landing bay of the Autobots' crashed-ship headquarters, the Ark, Wheeljack finished welding together the framework of large cannon. It took up the entire length of the bay and then some; it had to be split into several sections just to it fit inside. "Now that there's enough power to go around I'm was finally able to finish with these new defenses. Maybe now we can be better prepared the next time the Decepticons try to get at the power plant."  
  
Optimus Prime, the wise Autobot commander and one of the most powerful warriors that ever lived, had been supervising the construction. His impressive red, blue, and silver form was rigid, as though in constant tense worry; the look of a being who had lived through too much, and knew that there was still much, much more to do. "I agree," he said. "The sooner we stop the Decepticons the sooner we can help our friends against the main Decepticon force on Cybertron. Just remember, if the Decepticons are allowed victory here they will have the resources of two planets at their disposal, and then nothing we do will be able to save Cybertron. Not against that kind of power." He looked around the large open area and saw other parts of the large weapon-meant for mounting on the ridge outside of the volcano that the Ark has smashed into so long ago-strewn about. "How much longer before this is completed?"  
  
"Within the week, Prime. Building is easy with the energy of the power plant."  
  
"That's what I'm worried about," he said. "This power plant is both a blessing and a curse. I fear it won't be too long before another Decepticon raid and I'd like to be ready for them with some new surprises the next time they try. Keep this level of work up and we'll win this battle yet." After giving another quick glance at the work that was being performed he walked back to bridge of the ship where Jazz, Bumblebee, Ironhide and others were bustling about performing their various duties. Jazz was at the main console of Teletraan One, the Autobots' supercomputer that was used to monitor world events and troubles-as well as the Decepticons. Jazz looked perplexed as he was keying away at the controls. "What is it Jazz?" Prime asked.  
  
Jazz didn't look up from his work. "I'm not sure, Prime. Maybe it's nothing, but then again maybe it's the Decepticons rockin' and rollin' again." He punched some keys for a few more microns before continuing. "There was an unusually strong energy disturbance detected from somewhere over the ocean."  
  
Concerned, Optimus Prime ordered another sweep of the area. The Decepticon command base was located somewhere under the ocean, but that was all the Autobots knew, and they only knew that much simply because of they retraced the origin vector of Decepticon attacks. Since the Decepticons' base was at the bottom of the ocean it was difficult to separate what would be the headquarters from what was actually on the ocean floor. The was little water on the Autobots home world of Cybertron, and no oceans to speak of, the Autobot technology was not designed to perform detailed deep sea scans. Unfortunately, the Earth was over seventy-five percent water, so finding the Decepticons' base of operation was like trying to locate a single energon cube inside of a star. This disturbance, however, could be the break that they were looking for, giving them an idea as to the area where their enemies were hiding.  
  
Jazz completed running the second scan. "Sorry, Prime, there's nothing now. I have no idea what it could have been, whatever it was it was big. Maybe it was a natural phenomenon."  
  
"Not likely. I believe that the Decepticons have just made an error. I think we should send Skyfire and the Aerialbots to investigate, just to be sure." He thought a moment longer, "Triangulate a course for them to follow. When they arrive at the area of the disturbance have them run a concentrated sensor sweep. They should be able to find some sort of energy signature emanating from the Decepticon installation."  
  
"Sure thing, Prime." Jazz contacted the Aerialbots and Skyfire and gave them their orders. The six Autobot jets left immediately for the coordinates Teletraan One had managed to pinpoint. With a little luck they would soon know where the Decepticons had been hiding for all this time, and, with the vast amount of energy the power plant supplied them, they would be able to launch a final offensive against them. The Earth would finally be rid of the Decepticons.  
  
* * *  
  
A small army stood behind Megatron as he calmly addressed his forces at large. Inwardly, however, his excitement was barely kept in check. He could feel it in every circuit of his being, this time he would be victorious and nothing, truly nothing, could stop him. Not the Autobots and certainly not the pitiful military forces of Earth. Nothing!  
  
"Decepticons," he began, "What you see behind me is the newest addition to our army. As you all know I recently made a trip to Cybertron, which was most eventful." He gestured behind him, indicating all thirty-six Decepticons behind him. "His name is Swarm. He is the Nanocon. Remember that, as he may very well be replacing you all." He laughed at that, making many of the others present nervous; some began to shift their weight from one leg to the other. When Megatron offered no other names a question was raised.  
  
"What are the other guys' names, Megatron?" This came from Frenzy, the abominable little warrior from Soundwave's ranks of tiny cassettes. Megatron noted that Frenzy was about the same size as Swarm in its present form, only Swarm was infinitely more powerful that the wretched loudmouth Frenzy.  
  
"Swarm is all of them. He is a collective intelligence, what one part of him learns the others learn as well." Behind him Swarm remained motionless except for its heads. All of them looked about, taking in their surroundings and allies-learning.  
  
As was expected Starscream stepped forward to offer his opinion. "You wasted most of our energy reserves on that trip to Cybertron, and for what? That pathetic bunch of toys couldn't-"  
  
"Silence, Starscream!" Megatron commanded. He was in absolutely no mood for Starscream's outbursts. "You cold take a lesson from Swarm. He is a collective intelligence, a commodity you seem to lack a great deal of." Megatron emphasized this point by aiming his large arm cannon at Starscream. A few of the other Decepticons had a chuckle at this before realizing Megatron had been completely serious and they fell silent. At length Starscream offered no more insolence and fell into a brooding silence. "Now, a demonstration of his power." Megatron turned to face his new legion and shouted a command to Swarm. The thirty-six units merged into the six mid-sized units. Swarm did not move a micron beyond what they were commanded; he truly was the perfect soldier.  
  
Megatron decided he would offer a demonstration, which should prove effective and amusing. For Starscream's outburst he decided to teach the fool a lesson. "Starscream, lets see how well you fair against my new 'toys.'" Megatron stepped aside, creating an open path to the new Decepticon. "Feel free to attack."  
  
Apparently there had been some pent up anger within him, as he offered no retort. Starscream sped forward into an immediate and merciless attack. The response from Swarm was instantaneous. Starscream fired at one of the six units and it separated into the smaller pieces. The laser fire passed through open air that a moment before had been occupied by one of Swarm's secondary units. Now, the space was surrounded with a ring of six smaller robots, Swarm had separated into his smallest form at the last possible moment, allowing Starscream to sail though the air when he thought he would be colliding with his target. The six small Swarm units quickly reformed into the original mid-sized unit all in a fluid motion, almost like watching water flow. Swarm hit the ground at a run and moved directly at Starscream, traversed the remaining distance, and struck his assailant with a double-fisted blow to the chin. All of this occurred in an instant, faster than a laser blast could pass the short distance between the two combatants. Starscream sailed through the air and slammed into a wall.  
  
Furious, Starscream leaped back toward the unit that had downed him and landed a punch, knocking his opponent off balance. The Swarm unit fell to the floor, but separated into the smaller pieces once again-all of which landed on their feet. As one, the small group of six flew forward and tackled Starscream, pinning him to the ground by each arm, leg and by his neck. The remaining five units of Swarm, each still in their secondary form and not yet part of the conflict, surrounded Starscream, aiming their weapons at his head. The fight was over, although it seemed Starscream was having a problem accepting it. He still struggled against the restraining hands of Swarm.  
  
The rest of the Decepticons, which had just managed to get in a rowdy uproar in support of a good fight looked disappointed when it was already over.  
  
"Enough." Megatron called Swarm back and allowed him to change back into the six unmoving sentinels at his back. He looked down at Starscream and gave him a sinister smile. "Satisfied?" As expected there was no answer. He returned to the front of the group.  
  
Ramjet helped Starscream to his feet who appeared uninjured but for his ego. Good, Megatron thought. It felt good to take Starscream down that hard. "Now," he turned back to his warriors. Does anyone else wish to try?"  
  
Dirge, yet another member of the Decepticon air force said, "What odds are you giving us, Megatron? Another one on one fight? Even though you say he's one warrior he easily counts as at least six of us." The surrounding forces nodded in agreement.  
  
"My point exactly. He can replace most of you with ease." Megatron paused, thinking for a moment, tapping into the only kind of thought process he knew Deception warriors would understand. "Very well, all of you may try at one time. If you believe that will help." Megatron backed away. "This could become damaging, though. We should continue the demonstration outside where we will incur less damage to this structure. As far as all of you are concerned-well, any damage that is incurred to yourselves is acceptable." Megatron smiled menacingly.  
  
Angered by this, the group left the room and entered the surface module, which was nothing more than an overlarge completely enclosed elevator which allowed the Decepticons to travel between the surface and their undersea headquarters without getting wet. Once all of his troops were inside the module Megatron followed, along with Swarm. After a short trip, the octagonal module breached the surface of the ocean. One side of the module lowered like a drawbridge and the Decepticons poured out into the air. First the main army, and then Swarm. In an attempt at fairness he had allowed the others to go before Swarm, so that they could take up the more strategic positions. Only Megatron, Soundwave and Reflector remained on the platform to oversee the operation.  
  
Swarm exited and immediately integrated itself into the battle.  
  
Thundercracker and Ramjet swooped in from opposite directions, attempting to flank their opponent. Their blasts passed harmlessly through Swarm as he disassembled and reassembled again. The Insecticons-Bombshell, Kickback and Shrapnel-attempted a direct assault that Swarm countered by combining into his largest form and appropriately swatting them out of the way. They hurtled about a mile before crashing into the ocean's surface below.  
  
Scrapper ordered his Constructicons to form Devastator immediately, apparently hoping sheer brute force would be enough to defeat Swarm. Megatron found this amusing as well as disturbing. Was he, Megatron, the only one out of them all that was able to see the true potential of this new warrior? Granted the demonstration on Cybertron had been brief, but he was able to see limitless potential in Swarm. The way that he sees all openings at all times and exploits those advantages to the fullest. It was amazing to behold.  
  
Devastator approached the giant form that Swarm remained in after dispatching the Insecticons and took a swing. The blow missed when Swarm dissembled into his tertiary form and thirty-six small Decepticons latched themselves onto various parts of Devastator's body and literally pulled the gestalt warrior apart. The Constructicons plummeted into the ocean below. Even as the Constructicons fell Swarm changed into his six-robot form and began to seek new targets and assumed an attack formation.  
  
Megatron allowed the fight go on for a while longer, not wanting anyone to be left out-he wouldn't want any one of his army to not respect Swarm's power. Then, when nearly all of his warriors had been defeated at least twice, he called off the attack. Slowly and painfully, Decepticons emerged from the surface of the ocean and made their way back where the rest of the army was gathered, atop the surfacing elevator. They were battered and beaten but not permanently damaged. "That was merely a sample of Swarm's power," his words were bursting with pride. "The reason that you are all still functional is because of me." He looked around at all of the others to make sure they were comprehending. "I ordered Swarm to defeat you but not to permanently damage or kill. Imagine what will become of the Autobots without such an order. Their deaths will be painful." The forces attempted a cheer that ended in a pitiful and disorganized vocalization. "Now it is time to prepare for the end of our enemies."  
  
Soundwave approached Megatron; his blue-plated form reflected the light from Earth's bloated yellow sun. "There is a small group of Autobots approaching from the southeast, Megatron. I suggest that we get below before they discover the location of our headquarters."  
  
"It will not matter, Soundwave," Megatron said confidently. "When we have finished with them, there will not be any of this group left who might tell their allies of our location." He held his arms wide, encompassing all of his army. "Even if the small force was able to defeat the Decepticon army there is now Swarm to deal with. They will be destroyed!"  
  
"We'll, here's your chance to prove it, Megatron," Rumble said as he pointed to the distance.  
  
"Reflector!" Megatron called. Three small robots leaped into the air and combined into a camera that fell neatly into Megatron's open palm. Placing the device to his optical sensors he viewed the distance under a high magnification. Six Autobot jets approached. The Aerialbots and Skyfire. Megatron cursed inwardly. Not that they were a threat, but all six of them were-in a way-his doing. The Aerialbots were an Autobot counterattack to a plan he had had a long time ago when he created the Stunticons. He attempted to give the Autobots a bad reputation by creating Decepticon automobiles, hoping humans would distrust the Autobots. In response the Autobots thought it would be . . . entertaining to make Autobot jets to fight on their side. The result was a confusing fiasco that he did not care to repeat.  
  
Then there was Skyfire. An alien technology crashed in the polar regions of the Earth and was retrieved by Decepticons. It was a powerful new addition to their forces, and was sent immediately after the Autobots. Unfortunately, he was promptly defeated, reprogrammed, and welcomed into the ranks of the Autobots. Optimus Prime probably didn't even realize the irony of his sending these six on a reconnaissance mission into Decepticon territory. Of course, that did leave the question of what they were doing here? It couldn't be a coincidence the Autobots decided to search this area just as they were about to crush them. There would be time to work out the details later, when they were dredging Autobot wreckage from the bottom of the ocean. Megatron gave the order, "Decepticons! Attack!"  
  
* * *  
  
Skyfire sped at supersonic speed over the open ocean toward the coordinates that Jazz had given him. As far as his sensors could detect there was nothing but a flat expanse of water, an element that the Earth seemed to have in great abundance. Even though the water stretched from horizon to horizon it was still boggling to his circuits that the majority of the water was actually below the surface. It was in those depths that they needed locate their target, the headquarters of the Decepticons. "Anything yet, Fireflight?" Skyfire asked of the smaller red and white jet fighter that flew behind and to the right of him. Fireflight was the reconnaissance expert on the Aerialbot team since he had the best sensory equipment out of the entire group. In fact, his sensors may be better than most of the Autobots.  
  
Fireflight increased his thrust to catch up with the larger and faster Skyfire, just barely missing his tail wing. Besides his sensory skills, the Aerialbot was also known for his careless flying. That didn't bother Skyfire that much-as long as it didn't involve him.  
  
"Nothing yet," Fireflight said. Then after a moment, "Wait! I'm getting something. Three, no, now there's twelve. No, now there's . . . there's too many."  
  
Silverbolt, the Aerialbot leader who was in the form of a sleek, supersonic Concord jet, sped up to flank Fireflight. "What have you got? Too many what?"  
  
"Decepticons."  
  
"How many is too many?" Skyfire asked.  
  
"All of them, I think," Fireflight said after a moment.  
  
"Damn," Skyfire cursed. "We can't fight them and we can't call for reinforcements."  
  
"I suggest we retreat," the harrier jet, Slingshot, said. "I mean, we know we're close to their base. We can come back when we have a chance."  
  
Even Air Raid, who was always looking for a fight agreed. "There's no way we can fight all of them. We gotta get outta here."  
  
"There is no way to escape them. They have us out matched in numbers, firepower, and speed," Skydive put in. Always the optimist, Skyfire thought sarcastically. "But, that does not necessarily mean that we cannot attempt a tactical withdrawal," he amended.  
  
The sextet made a wide arc and started back toward the southwest. In less than an Earth minute the first of the Decepticon laser fire streaked past Air Raid's nosecone. "Ouch! That's some hot stuff coming our way, guys."  
  
"Silverbolt," Skyfire called. "You and I are the fastest here. We'll cover the others' retreat as best we can. Lets move!" Silverbolt agreed and order the remainder of the Aerialbots to return to base.  
  
"I'm not leaving you guys! Especially not if you're going to be fighting!" Air Raid insisted with battle lust touching the corners of his voice.  
  
"Come on, you'll do no one any good if you get shot down," Skydive interjected. Then to Silverbolt he said, "Don't worry. We'll make sure Air Raid doesn't do anything stupid." The four remaining Aerialbots streaked off into the distance as Skyfire and Silverbolt reduced their throttle and prepared to engage the entire Decepticon army.  
  
Skyfire transformed, but only partially. His alien nature that was still not completely understood, but it allowed him to transform in stages, unlike the others, which had to perform an all-or-nothing transformation. Skyfire swung his legs down and out in front of him and pulled his arms out while keeping his body in his aircraft form. Using the thrust from the jets in his feet-or what would have been his feet had he transformed completely-he performed a sudden braking maneuver and reversed his direction. He fired a volley of missiles and laser blasts into the oncoming throng of Decepticons. Silverbolt flew alongside of him fired all of his own weapons-lasers and missiles-at the same time as Skyfire. The fierce attack had the desired result and scattered the Decepticon forces in all directions and bought the Autobots a bit more time to increase their distance from the Decepticons.  
  
Silverbolt and Skyfire turned around again and sped after the rest of the retreating Autobots, all the while concentrating their fire aft, trying to take out as many Decepticons as they could. Their enemies regrouped quickly and continued their pursuit. Skyfire, checking behind him, noticed that the Megatron himself was at the head of the formation. "What have we blundered into here?" he asked Silverbolt. "What are the odds that we would catch them all outside and in the best position to attack? It's almost as though they were waiting for us. Was the disturbance that Teletraan One detected all part of some kind of trap?"  
  
"I have no idea," Silverbolt was forced to admit. "Skydive might have some idea, though. Why don't you ask him . . . if we survive this!"  
  
In front of Silverbolt there was a slight distortion as the air rippled and Skywarp appeared. The sleek, black jet was just through his dimensional vortex when he started a fierce attack. Silverbolt barely dodged in time as laser fire singed his tail wing. Skyfire was quick to counterattack while Skywarp was busy with Silverbolt. He transformed into his full robot form and unleashed a heavy bombardment of fire upon the Decepticon, striking him full force and sending Skywarp careening off course. This did not discourage the other Decepticons, however. The firepower kept coming from behind and each time they were forced to evade and attack was extra time their enemies had to gain on them.  
  
Suddenly, they were surrounded with a cloud of tiny Decepticons, Decepticons so small that if had he needed a pilot they would have fit neatly into his cockpit, Skyfire noted. He counted over thirty of the tiny robots, all of which looked exactly the same. Since he had been part of the Decepticon army for a brief time, Skyfire thought he had known all of them. However, he had never seen these small creatures before. "What's this? Where the heck did they come from?"  
  
No time was given to answer Skyfire's questions, though, as the small robots began to combine. Soon there were six robots, each the size of an average Autobot-or Decepticon; there was no mistaking that. The six unfamiliar Decepticons landed on him and Silverbolt, three on each. Their unexpected weight threw him off balance almost crashing him into the ocean, but he somehow managed to correct his horizon and stay in flight. He was not sure how Silverbolt was fairing, and unfortunately he did not have time to check. Quickly, Skyfire converted into his robot form and grabbed one of his assailants. It was smaller than him-as Skyfire was larger than most Autobots and Decepticons-and was mostly a steel-gray with black and dark blue highlights, but there was something about it that was disturbing, a look of deadly intelligence in its eyes. Skyfire didn't have time for a more thorough examination as the others were closing in fast. Using the unknown robot as a weapon he threw it at the other two who were still latched onto his body. But milliseconds before the impact all three of them divided into smaller units again, dispersing before any damage could be done. Skyfire knew that it was going to take a lot more time and energy than he had at the moment to figure out how to defeat these new Decepticons. Right now, he had to get out of the area and back to the Optimus Prime. Quickly scanning the distance he found Silverbolt, but there were no sign of his assailants.  
  
"We've got to get out of here!" Silverbolt said, echoing Skyfire's own thoughts.  
  
Skyfire transformed back into his full jet mode and pushed his throttle to the maximum. "Just speed away and don't look back. Our only chance is to outrun them. The others have had enough time to clear out by now! Lets go!" Silverbolt offered no argument and fired up his jets. With painful slowness they began to pull away from their pursuers. After a short while they had land beneath them and the Decepticons broke off their chase. They were getting too close to the Autobot headquarters for them to dare follow them any further.  
  
The two of them continued at full speed for a time after the Decepticons broke off, just to be safe. Then, when they were sure that they were no longer in any danger, they slowed to a reasonable speed. They had already broken countless agreements the Autobots had with the humans about their airspace. Optimus Prime would understand though, he and Silverbolt were not the type to blatantly disregard the airspace rules-that was left to Air Raid and Powerglide.  
  
Silverbolt came up on Skyfire's left. "What were those things? I've never seen anything like them."  
  
"I haven't the slightest idea. Looks like Megatron's been attending some garage sales," Skyfire joked.  
  
Silverbolt's tone remained serious, however. "I have the distinct feeling that if we weren't able to outrun them we'd have been killed."  
  
Skyfire didn't say anything in response. This was definitely no laughing matter, and definitely something Optimus Prime needed to know about. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 03  
  
  
  
  
  
"The Aerialbots are back," Jazz said, a hint of worry in his voice. "Well, most of them at least," he added.  
  
Concerned, Prime asked, "Most of them?"  
  
Ironhide stepped in for Jazz. "Yeah, Air Raid, Slingshot, Fireflight, and Skydive are back. There's still no sign of Silverbolt or Skyfire. Fireflight said they were attacked."  
  
"Attacked?" Prime had hoped only to find the Decepticon base without any trouble. He should have known better than to expect such a thing. Almost as soon as he had sent Skyfire and the Aerialbots away he had wanted to call them back. Some sort of instinct had told him this mission was exceptionally dangerous. Even more dangerous than it appeared on the surface, which was a direct reconnaissance mission deep into what was thought to be enemy territory. Prime was interrupted from his regretful reflection when Jazz continued with his report.  
  
"They were attacked by nearly all of the Decepticons, according to what they're saying." Prime and Jazz and Ironhide made their way back to Teletraan One where Blaster was trying to establish communications with Skyfire and Silverbolt. Prime asked, "Anything yet?"  
  
Blaster paused in his hailing attempts, "Not yet, Prime. I'll let you know." He continued his efforts, almost frantically, Prime thought.  
  
Optimus went to the landing bay to meet and debrief the Aerialbots who were just arriving. They landed and immediately transformed. Air Raid was the first to reach Prime.  
  
"I tried to talk them out of it, Optimus. But they insisted that I leave with them," he said as he jabbed a thumb back at his companions. Prime could tell from his voice he was more concerned than angry.  
  
"Its okay, Air Raid. What happened?"  
  
Skydive, always the rational one offered the story. He told of the rather uneventful search until a large group of Decepticons appeared, and how Skyfire and Silverbolt held them off while allowing the others to escape. Unfortunately, there had been no communication from either of them since.  
  
Satisfied for the moment, Prime pondered what this could mean as he walked back to the main computer room with the Aerialbots in tow. "Well, one thing is obvious: you were very close to the Decepticon base. If you weren't they wouldn't have had time to mobilize such a large force against you." They all nodded in agreement. It was decided that they might be able to get the coordinates of battle's location if they used Teletraan One. Ironhide met them on the way from the landing bay to the bridge.  
  
"Prime, Blaster says Skyfire and Silverbolt have just made contact. They'll be landing shortly. We'd better get back to the landing bay."  
  
They all turned around and ran back down the corridor, arriving just as the two came in for a landing. Skyfire was on his feet an instant before Silverbolt, both rushing toward their commander.  
  
"What happened out there? The others tell me you were attacked by a large force of Decepticons."  
  
"More than a large force, Prime," Silverbolt said. "I think it was all of them."  
  
"With a few extras," Skyfire added.  
  
Prime did not like the sound of this, the news was getting darker and darker and nothing seemed to brighten it either as they relayed the details of their battle and the encounter with the new Decepticons. The idea of new enemies that reacted that quickly was frightening enough, but with the addition of the agility and adaptability it made them deadly. "So, they just broke off the attack when you reached land?"  
  
"They did," Silverbolt said. "I suppose they figured they didn't stand a chance once we got back here. With the power plant at our disposal we have the advantage of firepower."  
  
Optimus Prime did not agree with Silverbolt's deduction. "I think that they weren't ready to battle with us yet. They have new forces so they must have a plan to use them against us. I think you just stumbled upon it before they were ready to close the trap. We have to be on our guard at all times now, until the attack comes." He faced Jazz and Ironhide, "Go warn the others. Tell them to stand ready for attack. They must be prepared to take battle stations at a moments notice. This could be bad." They both went off to perform their duties and ready the others. The Aerialbots and Skydive followed to aid in preparations. Optimus stopped them before they got away. "By the way." They all stopped and faced their commander. "Good job. You have provided us with valuable information that could save our skins. And you did it without getting injured."  
  
Swelling with pride the six of them only nodded to him in thanks and continued to the bridge. Optimus Prime stood a moment longer in the landing area and looked out toward the mountains, envisioning the sea beyond, and in it the Decepticons. "What do you have planned for us this time Megatron?" he said quietly. "And why do I have the feeling that this time its going to cost lives?" He turned away from the serene display before him and made his way back to the bridge to assist in preparations.  
  
* * *  
  
Starscream flew across the room and crashed into the wall, he slid to the floor with a thud and landed on his head. Back inside the War Room of the Decepticon complex Megatron stalked up to him and pointed his cannon directly at Starscream's head, light glistened menacingly off the end of the large barrel. "I should disintegrate you for that, you fool!"  
  
"Megatron, please! It . . . It was an accident!" Starscream pleaded for his life. Over the years he had become quite good at it, but Megatron was not moved-or fooled by it-this time. Because of Starscream's premature attack, the Autobots had been alerted to their presence far too early, which had allowed them to create a plan of escape. They should have been in a complete panic, not having time to think of anything but their inevitable destruction. Starscream had cost them all of that with his overzealous attacks.  
  
Starscream placed his hands in front of his face, as though that would shield him from Megatron's incredible firepower. "I thought you would be happy! Especially if I caught them by surprise and-"  
  
"You did not think at all! You cost us the victory!" Megatron lowered his weapon and stalked to the opposite side of the room. The other Decepticons parted before him and continued back to the walls. None of them wanted to be in the presence of their leader's anger. They could all take comfort in that all of his rage was solely directed at Starscream. "I was not yet ready to fire upon them. We needed to wait until there was no chance that they would escape. But, you had to fire on them without orders! I should melt you to scrap and reconstruct you into something useful."  
  
"They've gotten away before! What does it matter?" Starscream raised himself back to his feet. "Besides, we'll defeat them on the next raid with the help of Swarm." A slight smile crossed his face. "I must say, Megatron, that you were most wise in your decision to bring him to our ranks."  
  
Megatron was not amused by Starscream's attempt at flattery. "Cease your compliments, you idiot." His optics narrowed. "Thanks to your blunder the Autobots now know about Swarm in advance. My hopes to catch them completely unprepared for this new attack have been dashed to pieces!" Megatron completed another circuit of the room, ending up in front of a computer console. He tapped at the controls for a moment before continuing. "Now, I will have to launch the attack earlier than planed. Today. I had hoped that there would be more time to prepare, but thanks to you," he thrust a metallic black finger at Starscream, "I cannot be afforded that luxury." He finished on the keyboard and an image of a revised battle plan appeared on all of the monitors. This new plan included Swarm as well as nearly all of the other Decepticon forces. "I can only hope that this plan is sound enough as it is. Perhaps if we attack immediately they will not have had enough time to sufficiently prepare for Swarm's type of attack." He faced Starscream once again. "For your sake you had better hope that this plan succeeds. If it does not." Megatron completed his sentence by firing his massive fusion cannon at Starscream relieving some of his pent up frustration. The blast missed him by inches and slammed into the wall in the back of the War Room with a violent explosion. The rest of the threat did not need to be spoken.  
  
Meekly, Starscream said, "Y-Yes, of course, Mighty Megatron. I am but your humble servant."  
  
"Quit your sniveling and stand up." Megatron addressed the troops at large. "Prepare all of your weapons and power to full. You need not worry about depleting our energy supplies, after today we will have all of the energon we need. We will strike the final blow to the Autobots in one hour! Then this planet, and all of its energy, will finally be mine for the taking!"  
  
* * *  
  
Alarm klaxons sounded throughout the Autobot headquarters signaling an attack. It had been less than two Earth hours since the Aerialbots and Skyfire had returned, far too early for Optimus Prime's liking. It wasn't like Megatron to stagger attacks this close together. Prime ordered everyone to battle stations and quickly ran to his own post, which was at the power plant. That was most assuredly what the Decepticons were after; the only part that troubled him was the timing. Megatron was a lot of things, but he was not stupid. That meant that whatever it was Silverbolt and Skyfire fought was something powerful. Powerful enough that Megatron would risk another attack so soon.  
  
All of the Autobots were ready in moments; most of them were concentrating on defending the power plant. No matter what happened they had to defend that plant. They could not allow the Decepticons to get their evil hands on its energy.  
  
Jazz zoomed down the platform to the outskirts of the ship and came up next to Optimus Prime. The blue and white striped sports car transformed into Jazz's robot form. "Prime, everyone's in position. All that's left to do now is wait."  
  
Ironhide drove up on Prime's other side and changed from a red van to a robot. "It doesn't look like we're going to have to wait that long. Look!" Ironhide pointed at the edge of the ridge where several jets could be seen rapidly approaching.  
  
"Jazz, Ironhide, listen. This attack is much too soon since the last one. It probably means that Megatron has some kind of advantage."  
  
"Yeah, tell me about it," Ironhide said while he pulled his gun.  
  
"Just keep it in mind, and be careful. Keep those new Decepticons that the Aerialbots ran into in mind. There is no room for mistakes. We don't need anyone getting killed." Optimus freed his own weapon and started for his protective area. "Make sure your squads know about that and have them be doubly cautious." The Autobot commander transformed into the massive form of a red tractor-trailer and sped off to his defensive position at the center of the power plant. From there he would be able to get the best view of the battlefield and make quick decisions.  
  
The area surrounding Autobot headquarters was a flat yellow expanse flanked by high rock walls with a volcanic mountain behind, into which the spacecraft was embedded. The only way to approach the base was either from the front or above.  
  
Ironhide and his group positioned themselves in to the right of the plant while Jazz and his group took the left flank. Both groups were slightly forward, awaiting a frontal assault-a strategy that the Decepticons seemed to favor. Optimus Prime and his group stood in the center but slightly behind. He was the support unit, sending aid to either group that needed it at any given time.  
  
Prime viewed the distance and saw the Decepticons' arrival. More and more of them flew toward the base. He counted more enemies than he was aware existed which meant that their new allies were with them. It also proved to him that the new Decepticons that gave a distinct advantage. Looking across the soon-to-be-battlefield, Optimus Prime saw Megatron himself leading the attack. The Decepticon leader's confidence frightened Prime more than he had anticipated. "This is going to be a very dangerous situation," he said to himself.  
  
The rain of destruction began seconds later, from above. The entire force of Decepticon air power was making the first strike covering the ground with heavy laser and missile fire. The explosions blasted scorched holes in the ground, rained dust and dirt down upon the Autobots and obscured visibility.  
  
Cars raced towards them from the front of the ridge, the Stunticons, driving wildly into the front line. They all transformed at the last moment and engaged Ironhide's squad who met their enemies in a flurry of weapons and hand-to-hand combat. The two factions clashed, but Ironhide's group was holding. In a blaze of laser-fire a purple and tan jet swooped low to the ground before transforming into a tank and landing. It was Blitzwing, the Decepticon triple-changer. He fired a volley of shots into Jazz's group before changing from his tank from to a robot. Blitzwing continued to run along toward Prime's group. "Time to die, Autobrats!" One blast from Prime's weapon landed on Blitzwing's chest and sent him sprawling across the battlefield.  
  
A deep and hollow thud in the distance caught Optimus's attention, followed by another, and another. Each time he heard the noise rocks and dust skittered down the cliff face behind him and disturbed stones and sand all along the ground. Over the high ridge he saw the awesome green and purple form of Devastator looming, each step sending a cloud of dust into the air at his feet. Horribly, he was approaching the front line. Prime needed to take countermeasures, quickly. He radioed Blaster with his plan.  
  
As terrible as the battle was the part that disturbed Prime the most was the new Decepticons. There were thirty-six of the small robots just standing in the middle of the battlefield, seemingly oblivious to the chaos surrounding them. They stood in a perfect six-by-six square nearly motionless except for their heads. All of the heads were turning in different directions, looking about as if lost, or it maybe they were examining all aspects of the battle. Prime had no idea what they were going to do yet but he knew he wasn't going to like it once it happened.  
  
The Decepticon air force was being occupied by heavy ground fire from Jazz's team, as well as from the Aerialbots. Other Autobot air fighters were helping as well, Powerglide, Blades, Skyfire, and Swoop the Dinobot each redirected fire or attempted a counterattack.  
  
Devastator reached the front lines. The gigantic robot pulled its purple fist back and hauled forward into a punch to crush the group of Cliffjumper, Hound, and Prowl that were all concentrating their fire on his head. At the last moment, Devastator's fist was caught in the huge orange claw of Omega Supreme who immediately followed up the block with a heavy blast of laser energy to the center of Devastator's chest. The huge Decepticon warrior went down, sprawling across the field of battle. Omega Supreme leaped onto the fallen form and began to pound mercilessly. Prime was glad that Blaster gotten the message to Omega Supreme in time.  
  
At the front of Ironhide's area Optimus Prime could see that the Stunticons were in a retreat, but they stopped at the command from Motormaster, the Stunticons' leader. Prime knew what was to happen next, and at the same moment he thought it, the five Stunticons merged into Menasor. Prime fired several shots at the giant robot, distracting it in order to allow Bluestreak, Red Alert, Skids, and Sideswipe to escape being flattened. The Aerialbots must have spotted their arch-nemesis as they quickly regrouped. The five Autobot jets adjusted their course and flew high into the air, staying in a tight formation. Suddenly, they changed direction and streaked straight down, combining into Superion en route. Superion gained great speed in the decent and slammed into Menasor with earth-shattering force. The impact half-buried both of the immense robots in the ground, forming an impact crater near the area where Omega Supreme was still actively fighting Devastator.  
  
Explosions heated the air all around Prime and his allies, but he kept one eye on the new mini Decepticons, who still had not moved. They had stopped looking around, however, and Prime did not take that as a good sign. Something was about to give. He called for Blaster to relay a message to Jazz and Ironhide to make sure they kept a watch on the thirty-six new Decepticons.  
  
Then it happened.  
  
In sudden unison the group of thirty-six lifted off of the ground and flew forward. They kept in a frighteningly perfect formation for a time, but soon broke off into six even groups of six. The members of the six groups all moved as one. Optimus Prime was reminded of a flock of birds, each turning at the same time. Then, just as he had watched the formation of Devastator and Menasor, the six groups began to combine simultaneously and amalgamated into six full-sized Decepticons. These new enemies looked identical to their smaller counterparts, size was the only visible difference.  
  
Abruptly, all of the other Decepticons ended their respective attacks and pulled back to the top of the ridge where Megatron was standing. Only the six new ones that had been advancing remained. Megatron was banking far too much on these seemingly generic Decepticons. Fear and dread filled Prime's circuits as he opened a communications channel. "Blaster, get a message out, general broadcast. Tell everyone to get back. Whatever Megatron has planned it's big. Get Omega Supreme, Superion, and Defensor ready to work the front lines, have the Dinobots standing by as backup. Everyone else be ready to act, but as far behind as possible. Gather them around the power plant for maximum defense. Anything can happen at this point. Be on your guard."  
  
Blaster acknowledged and sent the message. The Autobot forces mobilized into the positions their commander indicated. Superion and Defensor stood on the front line with Omega supreme slightly behind; all readied their massive weapons. Still the six Decepticons approached, completely unconcerned by their massive opposition.  
  
At the last moment the six flew together and combined yet again into one massive robot. The action was so quick and fluid that no one realized it had happened until it was done-and by then it was too late. An instant after it had formed the giant Decepticon struck Omega Supreme in the head with a double fisted blow, knocking him down. Superion attempted to fire at the thing, but it had already separated into its thirty-six original units. The blasts missed completely as the small robots attached themselves to various parts of Superion. The tiny assailants pulled with a strength that defied their size and actually managed to divide the giant Autobot warrior into its primary components. As the Aerialbots fell to the ground the Decepticons merged into their secondary form and all-except for one-grabbed a floundering Aerialbot and threw them into Defensor with such force that the giant robot was knocked down.  
  
Optimus Prime watched with horror as his three most powerful warriors were felled with such little effort. "Blaster, have Ironhide ready the Dinobots. They can take more punishment than any of us."  
  
"Already way ahead of you, Optimus," Blaster returned. Prime looked out to the battlefield and saw the Dinobots already moving into position. He thanked the Matrix that his army was well prepared.  
  
Meantime, Omega Supreme was back on his feet again and lumbered toward the new Decepticons. As one, the six evil robots leaped at him and dividing into its thirty-six parts, attempting to use the same tactic that was used on Superion. Being only one robot and not of gestalt composition this proved futile, however it did not seem to daunt the Decepticons in the least and they simply continued to attempt to pry the giant Autobot apart. "Get them off of me! Get them off!" Omega Supreme yelled as he swung around and around trying to reach the tiny attackers with his claw.  
  
Defensor was back on his feet and he made his way to Omega Supreme. Defensor began to pick the small robots off of him, tossing them like insects in all directions. With a surprising grace every Decepticon that was thrown landed on its feet and was already moved immediately into a new attack. Optimus Prime gave the order for all available forces to attack while the enemy was disorganized.  
  
The Dinobots were already in the best position for attack and exceedingly eager to be in a brawl, moved as quickly as possible to the closest area where the mini Decepticons were landing. Just as one of them was making an agile landing Grimlock smashed it with his heavy tail an moment before it placed its feet on the ground. "Me, Grimlock smash stupid new Decepticons!" It was the first clean hit that any of the Autobots had gotten on any of these new adversaries. Having no time to compensate the small Decepticon slammed into the ground, carving a rut in the rocky earth in its wake. The creature came to rest at the feet of Warpath, the small but strong Autobot tank.  
  
Warpath wasted no time and transformed into his vehicular form, and rolled his powerful, treads onto the legs of the momentarily helpless foe, crushing them. "Pow! You're toast, Decepticon!"  
  
A high-pitched painful whine erupted seemingly from everywhere. Optimus Prime noticed that Autobots and Decepticons alike held their hands over their auditory sensors-this clearly was not part of the plan. All across the battlefield the tiny Decepticons fell where they were fighting and began to convulse and spasm. They lay helpless on the ground.  
  
In what seemed like microseconds Prime saw the Decepticons approaching rapidly from the ridge in the distance, Megatron leading the force personally. The whine still filled the air making it agony to do anything but try to filter it out. Prime managed to order an attack regardless of the pain. "Everyone! We must take out those Decepticons now! While they're helpless!" The forces moved out, staggering against the high- pitched noise. It was too late, though. Megatron and the rest of his army arrived sending deadly blasts across the field. The Autobots scattered, trying to find cover.  
  
The Decepticons did a neat job of routing the Autobots away from their fallen comrades. Oddly, though, none of them went for the power plant. They were all exclusively trying to gather up the fallen newcomers or actively keep Autobots away from their fellows, showing more concern for another life than Optimus Prime had ever known a Decepticon to show. Through the din of the renewed battle it took a moment to realize the shrill noise had stopped. The thirty-six Decepticons were no longer having convulsions and now simply lay motionless on the ground.  
  
Megatron landed in the center of the conflict. "Constructicons, gather Swarm and get him back to base! Combaticons, cover them!" Bruticus formed from his composite Combaticon parts and stood between the attacking Autobots and the retreating Decepticons. Megatron turned his malevolent glare on Optimus Prime. "You have gotten lucky again, Optimus Prime, but be warned. I will return to finish what I have begun here today. Then, you will be exterminated and this planet will be mine."  
  
Prime stepped forward, every inch of his impressive form an epitome of righteousness. "We'll be waiting for you to try, Megatron, but you'll never succeed. You've already lost."  
  
Megatron gave his forces the order to pull back. He looked to the Autobot leader over his shoulder. His red eyes flashed. "We'll see, Prime. We'll see." He launched himself into the air and led the Decepticons into the distance, toward the ocean.  
  
When it became clear to everyone that the Decepticons were retreating a rousing cheer erupted throughout the ranks of the Autobots. Prime had a dreadful feeling that their revelry was premature. Blaster and Perceptor came running out from within the ship to his side. Jazz and Ironhide arrived a moment later. "What do you think that was, Prime?" Jazz asked.  
  
Prime waited a long moment before answering. "It was unlike anything I have ever seen. I hate to admit it, but this time Megatron may have the means to defeat us."  
  
"What do you mean? We beat them up real good," Ironhide said. "If they come back we'll just do it again."  
  
Jazz was less than convinced. "That didn't look like a clean victory to me, Ironhide."  
  
"I agree, Jazz," Prime placed a hand on Ironhide's shoulder. "Whatever it was that brought us this victory, it was exactly as Megatron said . . . luck."  
  
Blaster approached Warpath. "Well, one things for sure, it's because of this guy," he placed his hand on Warpath's shoulder, "that were still alive."  
  
"Yes, that was some quick thinking, Warpath," Prime commended.  
  
The red Autobot looked filled to bursting with pride. "Aw, thanks you guys. It was nothing really. I just squashed him, that's all. Kabam!"  
  
Perceptor, the Autobot scientist and sometime tactician came running down the landing ramp of the Ark. "Optimus Prime, I have the preliminary analysis of the melee and it seems that the Decepticons were beginning to-" He stopped mid-sentence, which was very unusual for Preceptor to do. He usually liked to prattle on and on about his tactical and scientific findings to anyone who listen-and he always assumed that everyone knew what he was talking about. Although he preferred to stay out of the fighting whenever possible he had proven an invaluable asset to the Autobot army in matters of insight and intellect. His attention was currently focused on Warpath's forearm, which, while he was in his tank mode, had been his tread. He pointed to a small patch of silver-gray that stood out against his dull red color. "What is this?"  
  
"I don't know. I probably got a little dirty, I was just in a battle, you know," Warpath offered with a perplexed look.  
  
"Don't move," Preceptor commanded as he transformed into the form of a large microscope and focused his lens on the anomaly. "Hmmm, this is most interesting. Optimus Prime, you had best investigate this."  
  
Intrigued, Prime stepped behind Perceptor and peered through the optic port. At first the view only showed what appeared to be silver metal, but as the magnification increased, over several thousand times, the image became clearer. This was something the Autobot Commander had never seen before. The metal looked like it was one piece that was sectioned into many smaller pieces. As the resolution increased more and more the smaller pieces were comprised of even more miniscule portions. This process continued until finally he was able to see what looked like machines. They were moving across the surface within clearly defined sections of a microscopic grid with extraordinary slowness. Each mechanism operated individually, but not independently it seemed.  
  
The Autobot commander stepped back from the lens. "What do you make of this, Perceptor?"  
  
Perceptor maintained his microscope form a moment longer-studying, learning- before returning to his robot mode. "I believe that this is nanotechnology, Optimus Prime. I also believe that this was dislodged from one of our new Decepticon friends when Warpath pulverized its legs."  
  
"What exactly is nanotechnology?" Prime asked.  
  
A look of excitement settled over Perceptor's features as a chance to use his scientific expertise was presented. "Nanotechnology is the creation of microscopic machines. Originally, their purpose was to create exact duplicates of themselves. Thus, those duplicates have the ability create duplicates, thus the technology grows exponentially. On higher levels, the nanotechs are able to convert any available materials into whatever resources they need to maintain their goal. However, it would seem they could be put to even more complex purposes. Up until now the area of study was only theoretical."  
  
"It would seem that Megatron has discovered the ability to change hypothesis into reality," Prime said.  
  
"Megatron does not have the resources for something like this. Most likely it was sent to him by Shockwave and the other Decepticon scientists from Cybertron," Preceptor mused. "From what I can discern from this sample, the nanotechnology has a very static pattern to it. It appears the nanotechs strive for nothing short of perfect, static order. The only reason that I am able to hypothesize, at least at this early stage, as to why the nanotechnology would be striving for order is due to the inability to arrange complex programming in such a small and simple vessel."  
  
"Those suckers didn't look all that simple to me," Ironhide said.  
  
"That is true," acceded Perceptor. "It would seem that the Decepticon scientists have devised a way to increase the amount of programming that can be accepted as the mass increases. Theoretically, of course they should take on whichever form they evolve into, which, I assume, would be ever changing as the technology is ever evolving." Perceptor paused for a moment, considering something. "Apparently the Decepticons have found a way to force the nanotechs into whichever form the Decepticons desire. Either that or they have contrived a means to control the nanotechs' evolution. Both prospects are disturbing."  
  
Ironhide spread his arms wide. "Okay, so what? They managed to create a new robot out of this nanostuff. Then what makes them so tough to fight? I mean, they weren't acting like your everyday Decepticreeps."  
  
Prime nodded. "Ironhide has a point, Perceptor. They worked together in a cooperative effort and with an accuracy that was unbelievable."  
  
"I agree with him, Optimus Prime. Unfortunately, I have no solution to that problem at the moment. I'm sorry . . . I've failed you."  
  
Optimus shook his head and patted the scientist on his back. "Don't be ridiculous, you've provided us with invaluable information."  
  
"Hey, Prime," Called Blaster, who had been silent the entire time. "Do you think Teletraan One would have any information on these nanoguys?"  
  
"It would be worth a try." The Autobot Commander looked around the area and saw that it was bustling with post-battle clean up. "Jazz, supervise the operations and see to it that any wounded are taken to Wheeljack or Ratchet. And don't let them argue. If they are hurt in the slightest I want them checked. We can't settle for anything less than a full power now that Megatron has these new weapons. This . . . Swarm." Jazz acknowledged the seriousness of the matter. "After you have seen to the details here meet us on the bridge. There's lots of work to be done."  
  
"No problem, Prime. Consider it done." Jazz transformed and drove away to the aid with the casualties.  
  
Prime, Perceptor, Ironhide, Blaster, and Warpath all proceeded up the ramp and into the Ark. When the arrived at the bridge, they found it had been converted into a makeshift infirmary. Several of their fallen friends were lying about. Most had minor injuries-laser burns, torn plating, short circuits, and the like. Ratchet was working on repairs to Brawn's left shoulder.  
  
"Hold still, will you! I can't get to your servo when you fidget like that!" Ratchet struggled to hold the smaller Autobot down.  
  
"I'm telling you it's fine," Brawn argued. "You checked it twice already and didn't find anything wrong! Now let go of me so I can help with the others who may actually be injured and you maybe repair them!" The tough little green and yellow jeep transformed and drove out of the bridge.  
  
Ratchet made a move to go after him when Prime stopped him. "Let him go." He gestured over to the others. "Help them out. He's obviously too stubborn right now. You'll be able to check him later."  
  
Reluctantly, Ratchet agreed. He went over to Hoist and began to weld the ripped orange plating on his leg back together. Prime did not like to contradict himself. By allowing Brawn to go he was doing just what he had told Jazz not to, but Prime knew that there were more serious injuries to be handled immediately. He would order Brawn to get that shoulder checked when things calmed down and the more severe injuries were dealt with. Brawn was tough enough-and stubborn enough-to deal with a little joint trouble.  
  
Preceptor went to Teletraan One and began to type at the controls. "Let's see what Teletraan One knows about nanotechnology." He continued to work the console for a few moments more and suddenly, there was a three- dimensional gridline diagram of a small asymmetrical machine rotating slowly on the viewscreen.  
  
Teletraan One began to explain the image in its monotone computer voice. "Nanotechnology is a machine that replicates itself, requiring very little energy to do so."  
  
"Yes, yes we know that," Perceptor responded, arguing with the computer. He tapped a few more keys before he found what he was looking for.  
  
Teletraan One's voice began again. "Early Cybertronian experiments with nanotechnology were never completed. Once the nanotechs evolved to a particular point the machines became dangerous. The nanotechnology attempted to perfect its environment, freezing its surroundings in static quintessence. Several experiments were still in process when this spacecraft left Cybertron. No data on the results of these experiments is available."  
  
"Well, there you have it." Blaster stood up tall, proud of himself. "I knew my idea would tell us something."  
  
Ironhide apparently disagreed. "What do you mean? That didn't tell us anything! All we know now is that there were some experiments with the stuff and nobody knows what happened with them."  
  
"That's not true, Ironhide." Optimus Prime stepped to the front of the small group of Autobots that surrounded Teletraan One. "Someone does indeed know how those experiments turned out: the Decepticon scientists on Cybertron. I think it's time they shared their knowledge with us."  
  
Perceptor looked to his commander with a concerned look. "Just a moment, Optimus Prime. Are you proposing . . . ?" The question trailed off.  
  
Prime waited a moment, surveying the bridge, thinking of his options and what must be done. Wounded friends from a difficult battle against a powerful new foe lay all around. There was much to consider, such as the power plant that would give his enemies limitless energy. All of his soldiers were looking at him, waiting for his next words. He decided on the best way to deal with this problem, the only way, no matter what the cost. "Prepare the shuttle for launch. We're going to Cybertron." 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 04  
  
  
  
  
  
Swarm stood in its hexad form, and for all appearances seemed undamaged. Megatron slowly circled them while Scrapper performed an examination. He was clearly disappointed. In fact, he was enraged. If anyone else were at the focus of that rage they would be cowering, but if this bothered Swarm he showed no sign. "You fool! To think I was actually impressed with your abilities. If you can be beaten when only one of your collective carcasses are damaged . . ." He was so disgusted with his new soldier that he could hardly find a voice for it.  
  
Starscream walked around to the rear of Swarm. The six robots didn't even acknowledge his presence. "I think they're worthless! If that was all it took to defeat them-I can take one of them out right now."  
  
Without warning Starscream fired a missile, pointblank, into the back of the nearest unit of Swarm. The robot flew across the room, hit the floor and slid to a halt, its back still smoldering. If the other five were effected it was not apparent as they launched themselves onto Starscream and began to batter him to the floor.  
  
"Enough!" Megatron shouted. "End this childishness immediately!" Swarm instantly was composed and standing rigidly at attention, and in perfect formation. Starscream wearily got to his feet, holding his head. He almost fell over twice before he finally steadied himself enough. "You are fortunate I never revoked the order not to use lethal force on Decepticons, Starscream," Megatron said with a smile.  
  
The sixth unit of Swarm picked itself up off of the floor a moment later and joined the other five parts of its being. Megatron was amazed as he watched this. There was no sign of where Starscream's missile had detonated. He was whole once again. "What is this? How is it you all did not fall under that attack as you did while fighting the Autobots? Explain!"  
  
For the first time since he had arrived, Swarm spoke. His voice was a strange overlapping of many voices combined. It was a layered speech, almost as though all of the voices that comprised it were not timed the same. The result was a bizarre, flat echoing effect. "I learn, Lord Megatron. I have the ability to adapt to any attack, given enough time. However, I have not had much experience in battle. When the Autobot crushed my legs I did not know not that the pain information should not have been transmitted the other units, as is the case with all other data. The result was pain for us all, not merely the one unit." Megatron stood fascinated by what he was hearing. Although, he had to admit it was odd hearing Swarm refer to himself as "I" when describing other units of his being that would, under normal circumstances, be considered "we." Swarm continued his explanation, having been given no orders to stop. "This error will not occur again. In response to why I did not succumb to Starscream's attack has a similar answer. I have learned not to transmit pain data to the other units. Therefore, my other components were free to quell the threat. As you can see, the damage dealt in Starscream's attack has been healed and will not be able to damage me again."  
  
Intrigued, Megatron stepped over to Starscream who, a bit wary of the approach, cringed slightly. "You mean to tell me that if he were to use the same attack against you it would not cause any harm?"  
  
"That is correct," Swarm responded.  
  
"Starscream," Megatron ordered. "Fire a missile at Swarm."  
  
Starscream slowly brought up his arm, worried of a repeated beating, and fired as commanded by Megatron. Swarm made no attempt to dodge the assault and took the impact full in the chest of one of the six units. In a few moments the smoke and flames of the detonation cleared. Starscream gasped audibly at what he saw. Megatron, too, was impressed. Other than some scorch marks there was very little damage, and even that was disappearing before their eyes as the nanotechnology "healed" itself.  
  
"Excellent." Megatron looked at Starscream who was still gaping. "Good work, Starscream," he said in a mocking voice. "For once you have provided us with some useful information." Megatron promptly kicked the air commander's leg from underneath him and, in his weakened state he fell onto his back. A roar of laughter erupted from the other Decepticons at this. Megatron allowed the brief moment of levity before calling an end to it.  
  
Finally, Megatron was confident that he now had a weapon with which he could destroy Optimus Prime. There were no more mistakes that could be made, Swarm was truly the ultimate weapon. He began to laugh maniacally at this revelation and suddenly turned sinister. "We finish the Autobots at first light!"  
  
* * *  
  
The Autobot space cruiser finished fueling just after one o'clock in the morning local Earth time, just as the final supplies were being loaded aboard. Jazz, Ironhide, and Blaster supervised the operations while Optimus Prime briefed the small group he was bringing with him to Cybertron. He had decided that a small group was best so that they were able to move around quickly and with the least possibility of detection. The group consisted of Perceptor, Cliffjumper, Hound, Skyfire, Mirage, Prowl, Trailbreaker, and Warpath. They listened carefully as Prime explained the seriousness and importance of the mission, as well as the extreme danger involved. "I will understand if any of you does not want to go, this may be a journey none of us returns from. But, for the sake of the Earth and Cybertron we have to try."  
  
"Bam! There's no way I'm gonna miss this one, Prime," Warpath said balling his fists and punching the air. A bit too enthusiastic for this solemn moment, Prime thought, but that had always been Warpath's way. The commander looked at the others in the group but none of them made any indication that they wanted to back out, although Perceptor did look a bit nervous.  
  
"Alright, then. Everyone aboard the shuttle." The small group boarded the spacecraft, grabbing some supplies as they went. Once they were all on board Prime called to Jazz, Ironhide, and Blaster.  
  
The three approached their leader. Blaster arrived first. "What is it, Prime?"  
  
"Yeah! Do you need me to go with you and bust some Deceptichumps?" Ironhide asked hopefully, shaking a fist in front of his face. Ironhide had been disappointed to find out that he had not been chosen to be part of the group and had been making any excuse he could to try to be on the team. In truth Prime wanted Ironhide to go along, he was a good warrior and always came through in a pinch. However, he had opted to leave him behind to command things on Earth-along with Jazz. He had other plans for Ironhide to take care of. Plans that were as equally important as his own mission on Cybertron.  
  
"No, Ironhide. I have another mission for you and Jazz." He did not like to have to give this order, but there was no other way. "I need you to destroy the power plant."  
  
The three of them looked astounded. Ironhide began to protest. "But Prime..."  
  
"Don't argue. This isn't something I ask you to do lightly. I wish there was another way, but we cannot risk letting the Decepticons get their hands on that power. And with this new weapon at their disposal they are more than capable." The others looked downcast but it was clear they understood the grave situation. "Once the power plant is demolished I want you to retreat. Download Teletraan One's files and hide until we return. Hopefully, we will have a means to stop Megatron."  
  
"What if there isn't a way, Optimus?" Blaster looked his leader in the optics, worry on his features.  
  
"There has to be a way. Good luck." Optimus Prime boarded the shuttle and sealed the door behind him. He looked around the tiny cargo hold and surveyed their reserve. He noted grimly that this was probably the last energy that the Autobots would see for a long time coming. He proceeded to the cockpit of the ship where Cliffjumper and Hound were performing pre- launch configurations. "Are we ready, Cliffjumper?" Optimus asked.  
  
"Yeah, Prime. Ready when you are." The small, red Autobot made final preparations on his control panel in front of him.  
  
"Then let's go," and get this over with, he added silently.  
  
Hound pressed several buttons and pushed a lever forward with a green enameled hand. As he did this the whine of the engines got louder. Cliffjumper executed a similar series of commands and the ship lurched forward. Slowly the rocky sides of the hangar that the Autobots had carved out of the face of the volcano seemed to move back as they began their exit. Prime stood between the two pilot chairs braced against them with one hand on each, watching through the windscreen. They approached the edge of the platform where a sheer drop off of a few thousand feet waited, but at the last moment Cliffjumper and Hound pushed their respective control levers all the way forward, and with a sudden burst of incredible speed and a roar of the engines the spacecraft blasted out of the mountainside and into the sky. The inertia of the launch nearly knocked Prime backwards, but he was able to steady himself again once he grew accustomed to the speed. In a matter of minutes they were clear of the Earth's upper atmosphere and hurtling toward their bridge-point.  
  
Hound keyed in some commands on the console in front of him. "Heading is on course for the bridge jump, Prime."  
  
The Autobots had convinced the humans-with major difficulty-to allow them to put a space bridge jumper in geosynchronous orbit between the Earth and its moon. It was a small satellite-like device-large by Earth standards of such things-and allowed the Autobots ship to open a space bridge to Cybertron large enough to send a ship through. This cut the time to get back to their homeworld immeasurably.  
  
"Prime, this may not be the best time to bring this up, but when we get to Cybertron where are we going to land? The place is crawling from surface to orbit with Decepticons," Cliffjumper said.  
  
This, too, was something that he had given thought to, but there weren't many options. "We know that the Autobot resistance is on one of the moons. We'll have to try to land there. If we come in slowly and stay behind the moon the Decepticons should not be able to detect us."  
  
Cliffjumper was not convinced. "But which moon, Prime?"  
  
"I understand, Cliffjumper, but communication with Cybertron has been sparse with the Decepticons in control. We're lucky to simply know that the rebellion is based off of a moon base. When we arrive we'll have to pick the closest moon and hope for the best. If we choose incorrectly, we'll devise another plan." Grudgingly, Cliffjumper offered no further argument and busied himself with the controls. Optimus didn't like not having sufficient contingency plans, but the situation did not give him a great deal with which to work.  
  
Hound began a routine on a side console. "Bridge jump in ten seconds." He turned a dial on the panel and a purple gridwork appeared, overlaid on the windscreen-they were entering the jump. It seemed that their speed increased as they were pulled through. The grid collapsed on them, folding space and time, pulling them through the fabric of reality. It was disorienting but the feeling only lasted a few short moments. The projected grid vanished with a final twist and then they were clear of the space bridge exit point with Cybertron looming before them.  
  
Optimus Prime looked upon his homeworld and emotion at its beauty threatened to overwhelm him. The silver-gray imperfect sphere beckoned him. The bright light that emanated from within was visible through the cavernous holes in the planet's metallic surface. Unlike the Earth, Cybertron had no sun; it was always enveloped in perfect night. A large amount of light came from the structures on the surface-a surface that was almost completely built over-making it seem a splendid jewel drifting through the galaxy. Through the splendor of the moment reality reared is horrible head. He was forced to remember that the Decepticons ruled the planet now and he was here to insure their rule was as short lived as possible. He watched Hound and Cliffjumper and saw similar looks of longing on their faces. He did not want to ruin the moment for them, but they were now in enemy territory and they needed to be cautious. "Hound, plot a course for the nearest moon."  
  
Hound started at the mention of his name, but carried out the order without a so much as a pause. "Give me a heading, Cliffjumper," he said. He keyed in the course and the ship turned to the left, pulling Cybertron from their view and replacing it with one of the moons. It was not too far off, and if they acted quickly they might make it without detection. Unfortunately, it was at that moment their ship was hailed.  
  
Static crackled over the communications system. "Unidentified craft. What is your clearance code?"  
  
"Decepticon orbital patrol," Hound said irritably. "Damn, Shockwave sure is efficient."  
  
"How many are there?" Prime inquired.  
  
Hound's fingers danced over the controls for a few more microns. "It looks like three."  
  
"What now?" Cliffjumper asked. "There is no way we're going to convince those Decepticons that we're on their side."  
  
"Don't say anything," Optimus warned. "Try to outrun them, Hound." He left the bridge area and moved toward the main area of the ship. It was far to early in their mission for things to be going badly. Prowl, Mirage, and Skyfire met him on his way to the cargo area.  
  
Prowl approached first. "What's going on?"  
  
"We are about to be attacked," Prime said solemnly. The three of them looked dismayed. "I want you and Mirage to get to the battle stations."  
  
"There are only two cannons. That's not going to be enough," Prowl voiced excitedly.  
  
Skyfire came forward. "Optimus, let me go outside and try to hold them off." When Prime began to reject the idea he quickly said, "I'm the only one capable of fighting outside of this ship right now, and it may give us the chance we need to get away. This is mission is way too important to worry about one soldier."  
  
Prime would have much preferred it if no one left the confines of the ship, but Skyfire had a point. This it was too important. If the Decepticons won here they won on Earth as well. Then the Matrix only knew where they would go from there. Reluctantly he nodded to Skyfire, allowing him to go. Everything was happening so quickly, they had only been in Cybertron's orbit for minutes and already there were serious problems. This did not bode well for the rest of their mission. He forced the bleakness from his thoughts; he had to remain clear-headed, too much relied on their success.  
  
From the bridge he heard Cliffjumper yelling. "The Decepticons are through trying to talk!" A moment later there was a loud crack and the ship shook slightly. The Decepticons were attacking. Skyfire ran to the exit hatch and keyed it open. He jumped from the spacecraft, transforming into his jet mode as he did so, and sped away around to the back of the ship. Mirage said to Prowl, "You arm the port laser, I'll take the starboard side." Prowl nodded once and they both ran off in opposite directions. Optimus returned to the bridge.  
  
Hound was working furiously at the controls. "Power from all systems except for weapons has been routed to the engines, Prime."  
  
"Good." He looked out the small trapezoid window to the right of Hound and evaluated the Decepticon pursuers. They were of a typical warrior design, looking like triple-finned rockets. Most of jets in Megatron's army had looked similar before the crash on Earth. It served as a reminder of how different their stay on Earth had left them, Autobots and Decepticons alike, from their homeworld brethren.  
  
The Decepticons had caught up with the ship and were pacing them. They fired once again, in unison, and the ship shook more violently this time. From the rear right side of their shuttle a spear of orange laser light hit one of the assailants, which immediately transformed. In robot form it looked similar to Thundercracker or Starscream; their robot forms remained the same, regardless of any vehicular changes that may have occurred to their Earth-based counterparts. The Decepticon returned fire on the source of his attack sending blue-while electric blasts streaking from his arm blasters toward Mirage and his post.  
  
Skyfire suddenly appeared from behind the shuttle and blasted the one who was attacking Mirage, sending him spiraling away from the battle zone. Skyfire then increased his speed and flew between the remaining two, drawing their fire and leading them away from the Autobot ship. Laser fire was exchanged between the Autobot and Decepticon patrol as they progress further away from the shuttle, until finally there were out of Prime's line of sight.  
  
Optimus watched with worry as Skyfire flew into the distance taking the Decepticons with him in pursuit. "Skyfire did it!" Cliffjumper exclaimed. "He led them away from us! We're . . ." he paused awkwardly, " . . . dead."  
  
"What is it?" Prime asked.  
  
The tough little red Autobot pointed at a small radarscope to his right. Over a dozen blips appeared on the monitor approaching the shuttle. "Looks like they called for reinforcements."  
  
Optimus leaned forward to Hound's console and pressed a button. "Prowl, Mirage. Get out of there. More Decepticons are on the way." He released the button and addressed Hound. "Divert all remaining power to the engines. We have a good head start on them." He indicated the radar. "We might be able to outdistance this group."  
  
Hound complied with the request, the lights dimming as he did so. "What about Skyfire?"  
  
Prime paused for a moment. He did not want to have to leave him behind but Skyfire knew the risk when he volunteered to divert the first attack. "We have no choice. He'll have to catch up." I hope, he added silently. With a gravitational lurch the ship sped forward.  
  
"We're outrunning them, Prime," Cliffjumper announced as the first barrage of laser fire rained on the ship. "But we can't outrun their lasers!" A deafening explosion rocked the ship that nearly knocked Hound out of his seat and spun the ship around once. Luckily, Cliffjumper's piloting skills were well polished and he managed to right the ship and get them back on course using only the secondary thrusters.  
  
Trailbreaker appeared in the bridge entryway pointing behind him. "The back third of the ship is gone, Optimus! Our primary engines are completely destroyed!" Smoke and dust began to drift onto the bridge, punctuating Trailbreaker's grim news.  
  
A hint of panic rose up and threatened to break through Prime's resolve. At that moment he understood that there was nothing that they could do. They were going to lose. He looked out of the front of the ship and saw the moon looming large and silver ahead of them. They were very close to it now. If they were able to hold out for a few more moments they might be able to crash land. Another violent tremor wracked the craft and he moved out of the bridge and into the main cabin to survey the damage.  
  
Debris was strewn about everywhere, all being pulled toward the hull breach at the back of the ship. "Trailbreaker, use your forcefield to close that hull breach for as long as you can." Without a word the tall, dark Autobot ran off to seal the rupture. Prime looked around the cabin, struggling to stay calm. "Warpath, see what you can do about some of those Decepticons that are on our tail. Get Prowl and Mirage to help you!"  
  
Perceptor ran up to Prime from the bridge. "Hound would like to report that our guidance systems have failed and the gyroscopic stabilizers have seized. Additionally, I fear we are have been caught in the gravitational pull of the moon."  
  
Prime burst back into the bridge. There was a large hole in on the left side of the cockpit and Cliffjumper was on the floor, unmoving. Perceptor ran to the small Autobot's side, assessing the damages. Hound was still working frantically at the controls, but it was obvious from the lack of response from any systems that it was all in vain. "Sorry, Prime. We couldn't hold it any longer." He pointed to the proximity detector that showed a frightening reality. Dozens of Decepticons were gaining on them, and without primary engines they were gaining fast.  
  
The Decepticon assault continued to pound the ship in relentless waves, shaking the shuttle and frying controls. Suddenly, the scene of the Cybertronian moon pitched wildly in front of them as the craft tilted to the right. The motion gradually, painfully, became a spin. Numbly, Optimus Prime noticed that they were no longer being fired upon. Apparently thinking that there was no escape for them the Decepticons had broken off their attack to watch the shuttle crash on the moon. Worse, he knew that the Decepticons were right; there was no escape. Helpless, he watched horizon as the ship spiraled faster and faster, the moon rushing toward them with ever increasing speed.  
  
* * *  
  
Skyfire, in his robot form, punched the last of his assailants away, somehow he had managed to defeat all three. The Decepticon he was fighting, badly beaten already, sailed away from him, unable to attempt another attack. He looked into the distance and saw many more Decepticons hammering the Autobot cruiser. He started forward to help his friends but caught himself when he noticed the thick line of very hostile enemies between the shuttle and himself. Horrified, he watched as the Autobot ship began to waver on its course and then fell into a spin as it began to plunge toward the moon. The Decepticons gradually broke off their attack, saving their energy and letting gravity do their dirty work for them. They did not withdraw however, but simply stayed on course, closing the gap between them and the shuttle, knowing that the spacecraft was doomed. The shuttle continued on its downward spiral until it finally disappeared from view. After a few agonizingly long moments there was a small flash of orange-white light on the moon's surface.  
  
Grief filled Skyfire to overflowing. He wanted desperately to go to his friends' aid, to find out if they were still alive, but he knew if he did that he would only be captured or killed himself and, as Prime has said, this mission was too important. It rested on Skyfire to see the mission through in its entirety.  
  
Forcing himself to break out of his concerned reflection, Skyfire decided it would not be much longer before the Decepticons noticed him now that the primary threat had been eliminated. He looked behind him, in the direction that his own small battle had been taking him, and saw another of Cybertron's moons. He resolved to make his way there try to get into contact with the Autobots. It was just as probable that the Autobot resistance was on that moon as any other.  
  
Skyfire transformed into his jet form, engaged his thrusters, and speed toward the moon as fast as he was able. 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 05  
  
  
  
  
  
The area in front of the Ark was a mess. Pieces of metal, pipe, wire, rock, dirt and various other debris were scattered all around the area. Autobots were everywhere working quickly and diligently in order to get the power plant dismantled before the next attack. It would still be some time before sunrise and the light that they were using-powered by the last remaining generator within the plant itself-would run out shortly. Soon they would be working by infrared.  
  
Jazz helped Bumblebee and Sideswipe lift a very large segment of piping and hauled it out of the way for sorting. After a few dozen yards they tossed it to the ground near several other similar pipes.  
  
"I don't like it," Bumblebee said after dropping the pipe. "Prime said to destroy the plant. It would be much faster to have Omega Supreme or Defensor just blast it to pieces." He looked at Jazz. "And I'm surprised that you let yourself talked into this crazy scheme Ironhide came up with! It's not a good idea and I still don't like it."  
  
Jazz looked uncharacteristically sheepish. "The idea's not that bad. Think about it. When Prime gets back with a way to fight this thing we're going to need energon to fight with." He swung his arm wide and gestured to the power plant, now three-quarters disassembled. "This way if we just make it look like we destroyed it and keep the reactors and generators and stuff hidden from prying Decepticon eyes, we'll be able to put if all back together again. This way we don't have to wait for a new one to be built. The time it would take to do that might cost lives."  
  
Bumblebee looked up at Sideswipe to get his opinion on the matter. "I don't know. Just because it seems like a good idea doesn't mean it'll work out like we want it to. Few things around here ever do." Exasperated, the little yellow Autobot transformed into his mini-car form and drove back to the deconstruction site. Jazz watched him drive into the distance and was soon lost in the shadows between floodlights. Omega Supreme was stripping the skeletal framework of the plant down even further, the big Autobot was pulling apart steel girders and converting it to scrap with ease.  
  
Jazz turned back to Sideswipe. "Do you think I need an overhaul for going through with this?"  
  
"Don't look at me, Jazz," Sideswipe said, transforming into his automobile mode. "I'm just a fighter. You're more the leader type, you're supposed to be the one telling me what to do." He sped away, kicking up dust and small rocks in his wake.  
  
Jazz sighed, converted to his own car mode and drove toward the Ark. As he neared the entrance he transformed again and waited for Ironhide to finish directing Hoist who was lowering a piece of the reactor core into Gears, a small blue and red dump truck. The reactor part fit neatly into Gears' truck bed and he drove off to stash it where-they hoped-the Decepticons wouldn't be able to find it. "Get this to Beachcomber at the cave, then come back for the next shipment," Ironhide said. "No problem, Ironhide, I'll be back before you miss me." When Gears had gone and Hoist had pulled away, Jazz walked up to Ironhide.  
  
"That'll be a long time," Ironhide muttered and walked over to Jazz. "How's everything goin' on your end of things." Ironhide started to walk back into the Ark, apparently expecting Jazz to follow, which he did.  
  
"Things are almost done, but I'm still having doubts about this whole thing."  
  
"Relax, don't get your tailpipe in a knot. We'll be buttoned up before the Decepticons even get ready to come back. Trust me." He grinned at Jazz and patted him on the shoulder.  
  
They walked to the bridge where Blaster was downloading Teletraan One's files. If the Decepticons did managed to break through their defenses they didn't want them to get confiscate the information inside Teletraan One. It had been decided to simply backup Teletraan One's data and shut him down.  
  
In another corner of the room, Ratchet and Wheeljack were just completing the final maintenance checks on the last few that were injured in the last battle, much to Brawn's dismay since he was still upset over being forced into maintenance.  
  
Blaster stepped away from Teletraan One to allow Rewind-one of his cassette warriors designed to battle Soundwave's similar minions-pop out of the computer's input module and back into his chest repository before looking to Ironhide and Jazz.  
  
"We're all done here," Blaster said. "That's the last of the files that needed archiving. Now all we have to do is get the power core back into the mountain, take down the rest of the power station's framework, and sit tight until Optimus comes back with the goods."  
  
Jazz felt a little more comfortable now that they were almost done. Even though the hardest part was still ahead-staying hidden from the Decepticons. Once they showed up at the Ark and found that nobody was home they would start searching, and the Decepticons could be very thorough when the wanted to be. He hoped again that their plan to keep everything under wraps would work, the plan hinged on them being able to stay clear of prying enemy eyes and scanners.  
  
His neural banks filled with worry he decided to go to the cave where the power plant components were being stored. He wondered if Optimus Prime worried this much about everything. Probably, he conceded. Jazz didn't envy Prime's job at all, especially after this ordeal. "Guys," Jazz said to Blaster and Ironhide. "I'm going to go check on Smokescreen and see how soon he'll be ready. Just be sure you keep monitoring Teletraan One's perimeter systems. We want to know the second the Decepticons start the music."  
  
After getting a nod from his fellow Autobots he transformed and drove to the landing bay where Smokescreen and Huffer were preparing a device. Converting to robot form he knelt beside them. "Almost finished?"  
  
"Yup, just now we did," Smokescreen said while he closed up a panel on the cylindrical device and sealing it.  
  
Huffer stood up and said, "With this we should be able to hide the reactor's energy signature from Megatron until Prime gets back with . . . well, whatever he comes back with."  
  
Jazz just hoped that Prime came back at all. Cybertron was a death trap waiting to close on any Autobots unfortunate enough to wander into the wrong place. Besides, he thought, he didn't want to lead forever. "Let's get this thing rollin' to the hidey-hole, then. Once you get there, fire it up and stay put. We won't be too much longer."  
  
Huffer transformed and attached a small trailer to his orange hitch and drove off with the device in tow. Smokescreen transformed his sleek gray and blue auto mode and followed after Huffer.  
  
Jazz leaned back against the wall to try to clear his head. There was way too much riding on this; they should have just destroyed the power plant like they were ordered. They could have come up with some other solution afterward it was certain the Decepticons definitely couldn't get the energy. While he wasn't able to come up with a better solution-and he had thought long and hard on that-he just knew there had to be a smarter course of action besides directly disobeying Optimus Prime.  
  
Jazz fed a logic program through his central processing unit, hoping to clear out some of the heavy thoughts when he felt the tremor. Dust and bits of mechanical debris rained down on him in a light shower. At first he thought the volcano into which the Ark had crashed was erupting again. He switched on his seismic monitoring device but found that the source of the disturbance was not in the mountain. It was coming from outside.  
  
He transformed and slammed his accelerator to the floor. As he drove through the bridge area he noted that it was empty. He drove to the Ark's entrance and found the remaining Autobots had gathered at the end of the entry ramp, staring out into the dissipating night. All of the spotlights had been pivoted to point at the mouth of the ridge, where everyone was now focused. Jazz transformed to stand next to the others and followed their gaze, but that was unnecessary, he knew what to expect. Coming up the front of the ridge was their worst nightmare, the rising sun providing a high-contrast view of the situation.  
  
Devastator, Menasor, Bruticus, and Swarm-in his largest form-were approaching with the rest of the Decepticon army following close behind. Several hundred meters away from the Ark they all stopped to stand menacingly in front of them. Jazz took in the scene and saw Megatron standing on a cliff high off to the right. It seemed to him that the Decepticon leader looked right at him when he spoke a single command.  
  
"Attack!"  
  
Chaos erupted.  
  
* * *  
  
Megatron was pleased with himself. His military insight had proven flawless once again. He had acted on an instinct to have Soundwave send Lazerbeak and Ratbat to check up on the Autobots. And it had paid off. He discovered that the Autobots had planned to dismantle the power station and hide the key energy producing components from him. It was a foolish plan at best. Nothing could be hidden from the might of his army. He simply decided to push up the attack by a couple of hours and the gambit had paid off. As always the Decepticons were at least two steps ahead of the Autobots.  
  
From his vantage point, high on a cliff overlooking the Autobots base of operations he watched the battle unfold. Soundwave stood next to him, acting as a second set of optics so that nothing in the battle would escape his notice. With his most powerful warriors leading the assault Megatron was sure the Autobots would be defeated this time, and the power station would be secured in Decepticon hands in mere hours. Already the pathetic Autobots were fleeing before the might of his gestalt warriors, running about in a panic instead of planning. Had they no contingency plan? For being unprepared they deserved their fate, he thought sardonically. A Decepticon installation would never have been caught this unaware. The slaughter would prove gruesome and fulfilling.  
  
Bruticus was already at the remainder of the power station and fending off Omega Supreme, trying to put him out of the way while Menasor stole the reactors and core. The other Decepticons were only a diversionary measure, to keep the Autobots from regrouping. So far, everything was going perfectly.  
  
The Protectobots appeared and formed Defensor, coming to the aid of several Autobots that were being herded away from the power station by Devastator. Defensor grabbed Devastator around the legs, tackling him. Megatron was hardly concerned, he knew the punishment his troops could take, and even so the fight was still serving its purpose. It kept anyone from getting too close to the power station.  
  
The sound of jet engines drew Megatron's attention to the sky above the ridge where he saw a group of his jet fighters flying in attack formation and raining laser blasts onto the battlefield. Then he saw his troops were being pursued by the Aerialbots.  
  
The Aerialbots launched a synchronized barrage of laser and missile fire at the Decepticon fighters. To avoid the attack the Decepticons dove to the ground, transformed, and returned fire. The Aerialbots transformed and combined into the powerful warrior Superion, who landed next to their enemies. Superion began to blast large craters into the ground in the area, apparently in hopes of taking out a few Decepticons. The foolish Autobot air guardian did not realize that the Decepticons were already clear and Swarm was approaching from behind.  
  
Swarm, in his largest form, leapt up as though trying to tackle Superion outright, but at the last moment disengaged into his smallest mode and grabbed hold of the Autobot's arms and legs and pulled him apart. Swarm then instantly recombined and caught the Aerialbots in his cupped hands. Before the Autobot aircraft had the chance to revert from their respective Superion parts, Swarm threw them across the battlefield into Omega Supreme who was already taking a heavy beating from both Bruticus and Menasor. The Aerialbots knocked Omega Supreme to the ground and sent him sprawling.  
  
Bruticus wasted no time and drove his fist with all his strength into Omega Supreme's mid-section. When he pulled his fist back up it was covered with pieces of scrap metal, wiring, circuitry, and rock. His fist had gone completely through Omega Supreme and into the ground below. Bruticus stood up and kicked the giant fallen Autobot, adding extra damage. Menasor had already managed to secure part of the power core when Bruticus moved to grab the remaining reactors.  
  
Devastator still grappled with Defensor, but Swarm dealt with that as well. Using a technique similar to the one he had used on Superion, the Nanocon transformed into its secondary form and had each unit pull at a limb while the sixth went for the head. Defensor reeled from the unexpected attack and stumbled backwards. Devastator saw his chance and fired his weapon into Defensor's chest. The impact of the explosion roughly put the Protectobot gestalt to the ground. As Defensor crashed to the rock floor of the ridge Swarm flew into the air and disassembled further, falling on the downed Autobot like his namesake.  
  
Megatron watched with pleasure as Devastator, now free to seek new targets, reached and picked up a fleeing yellow Autobot in vehicle, Grapple. Up until now, the smaller Autobots had escaped much notice as the battle had focused on the larger warriors on both sides. Grapple, transformed into his robot form and valiantly fired again and again at Devastator's head in a desperate attempt to free himself, but it did him little good. Devastator put the Autobot between his huge, purple hands and squeezed. The combined power of the Constructicons focused into the hands of Devastator and crushed with its force. The Autobot's cries for help went unanswered as his destruction was at hand. Satisfied with his work Devastator tossed lifeless Autobot carcass aside. The Decepticons had drawn first blood.  
  
The struggle between Swarm and Defensor quickly neared its end. The Autobot tried in vain to pull the Nanocon's tertiary parts off of his body, but he was separated before long; his smaller Autobot components scattered about in different directions. The five Protectobots hit the ground and transformed weakly into their robot forms. Each of them must have seen a secondary Swarm unit coming for them respectively since they tried to escape. They didn't succeed, of course. Each of the six Swarm units dismembered the Protectobots further by ripping off their arms and legs. Satisfied that they were no longer a threat Swarm left the broken Autobots where they lay and immediately found a new target.  
  
Two Autobot sports cars of similar make, one yellow and one red, approached Swarm in an apparent attempt to help the Protectobots before it was too late. It was already too late, but overwhelming and impossible odds never seemed to stop the sappy, heroic Autobots. The two cars transformed into robot form, and began to fire at Swarm. Three Swarm units were felled, but the remaining three dodged to get close enough to the red Autobot- Sideswipe. The three units dove onto the "hero" and began to pound him relentlessly. Sideswipe called to his partner.  
  
"Sunstreaker, get out of here! I'll hold them off! We can't take them out!" Megatron lost site of Sideswipe as Swarm destroyed him, transforming quickly between secondary and tertiary modes in a writhing mass of destruction. When Swarm pulled back there was not much left of the Autobot except for a few glistening red shards. The yellow Autobot heeded his comrade's advice and transformed into his vehicular and sped away. He was not fast enough, however. The three Swarm units that had been knocked down by the Autobot attack were already back up and flying through the air. The group landed in front of Sunstreaker's path, blocking his escape as eighteen smaller units.  
  
Sunstreaker, however, did not slow down. "Man, this is really gonna hurt, not to mention what it'll do to my finish," he said. He increased his acceleration and plowed through the small Decepticon wall. Swarm let him go as the attack that had begun to come from above was of a more pressing urgency.  
  
Overhead, the Autobot called Powerglide was sailing over the battle toward the ridge with Jazz hanging on tightly to the landing gear while laying down a covering fire on Swarm. The small red plane dodged several assaults by Blitzwing-and counterattacks by Swarm-to drop Jazz off on the cliff right next to Megatron, a gutsy move for an Autobot. Swarm quickly combined into his primary mode once again and sprung up in front of the retreating Powerglide who was caught by a massive backhand and swatted into the mountainside, colliding with such force that he was embedded in the rock. Swarm quickly transformed to secondary mode and made his way back toward the power plant, thrashing any Autobot that got in its way.  
  
Pleased the battle was going well for him Megatron momentarily spared his attention for the new arrival. Jazz stood with a horrified and tired expression on his face, no doubt feeling helpless at the carnage befalling his pitiful army. "Such is the ways of war, Autobot. If you are not prepared to pay the prices then you have no business participating."  
  
Jazz forced his gaze to Megatron. "Stop this, Megatron. Just stop! You have what you came for. Can't you just leave us now?"  
  
Megatron leaned closely to Jazz's face, looking into his optics, the Decepticon's eyes blazed. "We don't have all of what we came for, now do we?" He could see the confusion cross the other's face so he decided to be more specific. "You can stop this slaughter at any time, Autobot. Just let me know where the other power station components are located and we will cease this assault...for now," he added, just to emphasize the point that not only could the Decepticons never be defeated but also to show him just how powerless they were.  
  
Jazz faced the ground with slumped shoulders-deciding-then he looked back up indignantly. Anger and despair played across his features and for an amusing moment Megatron thought that the Autobot was going to try to attack the Decepticon Leader. Then Jazz yielded. "You win, Megatron. The other parts of the reactor core are in a fortified cave not far from here. I'll take you there myself if you want."  
  
"That will not be necessary. We are more than capable of finding it on our own." His smile turned sinister. "Now, I have no further use for you." He raised his right arm and pointed his mounted fusion cannon at Jazz's head. "Prepare for oblivion."  
  
From behind Megatron a voice shouted, "Stick it in neutral, Megatron. Or your buddy here gets it!"  
  
He spun to the source of the voice and found Ironhide standing over Soundwave. Soundwave was on his back and the Autobot had a red-plated foot placed on Soundwave's chest so none of his cassettes could be deployed for aid. Ironhide's blaster was aimed directly at Soundwave's head. The blue Decepticon struggled to stand up, but every time he managed to budge an inch Ironhide pressed down with his foot, pinning him. Megatron cursed silently for leaving himself open enough to allow an Autobot to sneak up on his position undetected. "So, you think to manipulate me, Autobot? I knew you were rash Ironhide, but I never imagined you would be this foolhardy."  
  
Ironhide ignored the banter. "What's it gonna be? You got about five astro-seconds before Soundwave's a grease spot."  
  
In response Megatron jumped into the air and flew several meters above the cliff. He hovered there a moment, taking careful aim with his fusion cannon, before letting loose a concentrated blast of energy. The section of the ridge where Ironhide and Jazz were standing with Soundwave exploded, sending a cloud of rock and dust into the air. Megatron knew his aim was true and Soundwave would not be destroyed, the Autobots' fate however, may be different. But that hardly mattered any longer.  
  
He flew higher to survey the battle zone. He could see things much more clearly now that the sun had risen mostly above the horizon. Broken Autobot carcasses littered the area and heavy damage to the power plant was evident. The resistance was minor now and he decided he would be able to pull some troops from the fight without endangering the overall mission.  
  
From the settling cloud of debris Megatron created from his attack on the mountainside, Soundwave appeared and seemed undamaged. Of the Autobots, however, there was no sign. Good. "Soundwave, inform Dirge, Ramjet, and the Constructicons that I am in need of their assistance. Transmit them our coordinates and have them join us as soon as possible."  
  
"As you command, Megatron," Soundwave sang in response.  
  
Moments later the eight warriors he had summoned flew to him from various parts of the battlefield, all the them looking a little disappointed that they were summoned from the thrill of fighting.  
  
"It has come to my attention that the Autobots have hidden vital components of the power station in a cave in this region. Find them," Megatron commanded.  
  
Immediately, his warriors began their search, each scattering in a different direction. Confident that his warriors would carry out their task and victory was well in hand, Megatron returned his attention to what he knew were the final moments of the battle. There was nothing left of the power plant except mangled wreckage and most of the fallen were Autobots, and they were not moving. The entire area was scorched with black streaks and patches from laser burns and explosions. Swarm was moving into the Ark, to seek and destroy any further opposition. Everything had gone perfectly. All that remained was to find the rest of the power plant modules- the more energy the better.  
  
Soundwave arrived from the southwest flew in close. "Megatron, there is a report from the Constructicons. The location of the cave containing the power station modules has been discovered."  
  
Elation filled Megatron's circuits. "Excellent. Lead the way." They flew around the north side of the volcano that housed the Ark and through a small mountainous pass. A short distance later, Megatron saw a small group of Decepticons gathered around the mouth of a cave. It was carefully excavated under an outcropping of rock and would easily have been overlooked. Scattered at the mouth of the cave was smoldering shards of rock. "What is going on here?"  
  
Scavenger, the Constructicon spoke up first. "The Autobots apparently believed that by sealing the opening of the cave with a rock they would avoid detection. We have destroyed it."  
  
"No one has entered yet?" Megatron asked, suspicious.  
  
"No," Scrapper said. "We didn't know if there were any traps . . . and we were waiting for you, of course."  
  
"Soundwave, send Ravage inside to disarm any surprises the Autobots might have thought to leave for us," he commanded.  
  
Soundwave nodded and pressed a button on his left shoulder. "Ravage, eject. Operation: Search and destroy." His chest cavity opened and procured a cassette that transformed into the form of a black metallic jaguar. Ravage landed easily on his feet and looked around for a moment before proceeding into the cave at a trot.  
  
Long moments passed before Ravage returned. The robotic feline leapt into the air and transformed back to his cassette mode and deposited himself back in Soundwave's chest. "Megatron, the Autobots do not have any defenses in place."  
  
Megatron scoffed. "Well done, Ravage. Apparently the Autobots were too stupid to create defenses or we have arrived before they had the opportunity to put any in place. In either case their energy is now ours!"  
  
The communicator spoke up again with additional information. "Ravage also reports the presence of four Autobots within the cave."  
  
"It doesn't matter. Victory is assured. Inside, at once!" Megatron motioned to his small gathering of troops to enter the cave. They ran down the long, recently excavated corridor and found a large chamber at the end. One of the Constructicons commented on how terribly the mountainside had been hollowed out, but Scrapper told him to shut up. From the size of the area, it appeared as though the Autobots had, indeed, thought to hide all of the power station parts as well as themselves within this cave.  
  
Coming to the end of the tunnel Megatron saw the Autobots that Ravage had discovered. They were standing ready and had taken up battle positions, their weapons drawn. If he was remembering correctly-all Autobots began to look the same after a while-they were Smokescreen, Huffer, Gears, and Beachcomber. Megatron gave his order. "Destroy them! Destroy them and take them and their precious energy source!"  
  
The cavern immediately filled with laser fire, mostly from the Decepticons, and the Autobots were quickly buried under falling rock as a sheer wall in the back of the cave collapsed under the relentless Decepticon firepower. The fight was relatively brief, much to the dismay of many of the Decepticons, but it was a victory nonetheless.  
  
Dirge moved to the back of the cave and found a pile of mechanical parts. He picked up a small motor and called over his shoulder. "I think we hit the jackpot!"  
  
Megatron came over to investigate. The entire back half of the cave and a second, smaller chamber were filled with the parts they were looking for. Jackpot indeed. The components were piled several times taller than any of the Decepticons present, and stacked five or six layers deep.  
  
"There's more here than they had left in what was left of the power plant, Megatron," the Constructicon, Bonecrusher, said.  
  
The other Constructicons gathered around the parts, intrigued. "Yeah," Scavenger said. "But it's only the generators and reactor bits. There's nowhere to house them."  
  
Hook, arguably the smartest of the Constructicons, hit scavenger in the back of the head. "You imbecile! We can build another power plant in a few days. You are a Constructicon!"  
  
"Cease your inane quarrelling," Megatron commanded. "Soundwave. Let the other Decepticons know that the battle is over. They may leave any Autobots on the battlefield in any condition they are currently in. They are all to regroup here immediately. We need to get these components back to Decepticon headquarters quickly."  
  
Soundwave complied and the others began to empty the gather the fragments of the reactors and load them onto Long Haul, the green Constructicon who had transformed into a dump truck. After a short time additional Decepticons began to arrive and aid in the transport. All was going well until there was an outburst from the cavern's entrance.  
  
"Why didn't you let us finish them off!" a familiar raspy voice shouted.  
  
Megatron spun to face the source of the disturbance: Starscream. All of the others were staring at the Decepticon air commander, but he gave no indication that this bothered him, he rarely did. Slowly the others backed away from the entryway, clearing Starscream a path. They knew what was coming and scrambled to get back to work.  
  
"Starscream, explain your outburst. Why are you not working with the others to clear this cave?"  
  
Starscream swept his hand horizontally through the air in a wide gesture. "You called off the attack when we could have finished them off!"  
  
"You're a short sighted fool, Starscream." Megatron returned to supervising the operations and continued. "Securing these power plant components is far more important than the Autobots at the moment. With this we have all of the power we need to crush them. As it took three attacks to get this far, our current energy level is insufficient to have 'finished them off' anyway. Now we can come back at full capacity and destroy them at our leisure."  
  
"So you're not worried in the slightest, mighty Megatron?" Starscream said, acidly, folding his arms across his chest/cockpit.  
  
"Of course not! Don't be absurd. The Autobots are done for. We have the power supplies we need and soon this miserable ball of mud that the humans call a planet will be ours to do with as we please."  
  
"Then I suppose the fact that Optimus Prime was nowhere to be seen during the battle doesn't give you the least bit of concern, because you have it all figured out. Right, Mighty Megatron?" Starscream smiled treacherously at his leader before lending his aid to the others in lifting the machinery.  
  
Megatron stood astounded. Could it be that he overlooked something as significant as this? And to have Starscream point it out, of all things! Optimus Prime would never be absent during a major conflict without a very good reason. Something was definitely amiss. "Starscream, explain yourself, and this had best not be another one of your rebellious schemes."  
  
Starscream merely moved into the cave to assist with the work of moving the reactor components. Sarcastically, he said, "Don't worry about it, Mighty Lord. I was wrong for questioning your eye for detail."  
  
That fused it. Megatron's temper snapped and he fired a low-powered blast at Starscream, hitting him in the arm and forcing him to drop the device he was carrying. Starscream fell to a sitting position on the chamber floor. Megatron moved to stand over him. "You will change your tone if you value your life. Now, let me know what you saw!"  
  
Starscream began to grovel as usual. "I-I'm sorry, Megatron. I shouldn't have said . . ."  
  
"Quit your babbling and start saying something useful, Starscream! Was Prime at the battle or not?" To drive the point home he pointed his cannon at Starscream's other, undamaged, arm.  
  
"No, I didn't see him at all," Starscream said frantically.  
  
Megatron kicked him in the chest and sent him onto his back. He spoke to the rest of the gathering. "Did anyone else notice Optimus Prime at the battle?" There was brief discussion among his warriors, but no one could be certain they had seen the Autobot Commander.  
  
"Blast!" Megatron shouted. He thought a moment about what would keep Prime away from the battle. "The Autobots must be up to something. But what? What could it be?" he thought aloud. He climbed upon the pile of rubble that had buried the four Autobots. "Unload these components quickly. The Autobots may have a contingency plan after all, we must move as fast as possible before they can implement it. We cannot risk a second strike until we have enough energon. This battle has left us drained and vulnerable to Autobot treachery. Besides, if Optimus Prime is personally involved in the Autobots' countermeasure, then it could be something to consider very seriously."  
  
He looked around at the large milling group until he found who he was looking for. "Astrotrain, transform into your ground transport mode. Decepticons, load the parts into Astrotrain, as quickly as possible." Astrotrain transformed into a train and opened his hatch and Decepticons immediately began to fill his cargo hold with reactor parts.  
  
The work was quick and efficient with all of the disassembled gestalts and Swarm. Before long all of the power station components were loaded into Astrotrain and they were ready for launch. Satisfied that all was complete, Megatron ordered all of the Decepticons to return to base.  
  
As they returned to headquarters Megatron dreamed of the power that he would control after the power station was rebuilt. The uses he could put that energy to, the millions of astro-liters that he could use to build new minions, destroy the Autobots, and conquer the galaxy. He smiled deeply to himself. It would only be a matter of days now, if that long, before all of his dreams would come to pass. They no longer had to deal with the Autobots or worry about their involvement. Finally, victory, true victory was at hand.  
  
* * *  
  
The destruction was unbelievable. The casualties were high. The landscape was demolished. The power plant was gone. The Decepticons had won.  
  
Jazz sat numbly on a fallen boulder lost in his own thoughts. He didn't think that the battle could have gone any worse if they had tried. Ironhide was standing next to him, trying to comfort him. It did no good. He felt like he had let Optimus Prime down. That's probably because I have, he thought grimly.  
  
"C'mon, Jazz," Ironhide was saying. "We gotta help with the others. This is getting us nowhere fast. The Decepticreeps could be back at any astro- second and I, for one, want to be as ready for them as I can."  
  
Jazz looked up. Ironhide was just as battered and dirty from the blast they took from Megatron, as he was himself. How they had survived he still didn't know. One moment it was a blinding flash of energy and the next it was Ironhide pulling him out of a pile of rubble.  
  
Slowly, he picked himself up off the blackened boulder and began to walk back to what was left of the Ark. Swarm had caved in the entrance to the ship and a small tunnel had to be dug to get inside. Only the small Autobots and Spike could get inside at the moment-Bumblebee, Brawn and Cliffjumper. Blaster had even lent his cassettes-Steeljaw, Ramhorn, Eject, and Rewind-to go in and help. Early reports from inside were not good. There was rubble everywhere and Teletraan One was demolished, but Ratchet and Wheeljack said that it would most likely be salvageable-at least based on what they had seen on the images Blaster's cassettes were able to bring back. It was lucky that they decided to shutdown Teletraan One, it most likely minimized the damage. The one good decision I made today, Jazz thought.  
  
The Autobot casualties had been placed in front of the rubble that blocked the entrance to their headquarters. They were placed into two groups: wounded and inactive. Luckily, most fell into the former category. Nearly everyone was injured in one way or another, some more seriously than others. In fact, as Jazz watched Wheeljack and Ratchet were working quickly, trying to repair Omega Supreme, but from the looks of it he wasn't going to pull through. The huge hole punched clear through him by Bruticus was not a thing that could easily be fixed, especially cut off from supply materials inside the Ark as they were.  
  
Then there was the other group, the group of the dead. So far the number was not very large, all things considered, but then again even one was too many. Besides that, they kept finding more. So far there was Grapple, Skids, and Sideswipe. Jazz looked at them, remembering horribly, what Megatron had said to him about the price of war and being prepared to pay it. As he watched Huffer and Beachcomber approached with Smokescreen draped between them, his body broken from falling rock and punctured from Decepticon laser fire. They laid him down next to the other three. The fatalities were growing and showed no sign of stopping soon.  
  
Jazz transformed and drove away from the group of wounded and dead and went to inspect what was left of the power plant. Anything he could do to put the deaths of his friends out of his neural network. He approached the still smoldering remains of the power plant's structure where many Autobots were clearing the wreckage out of the way and placing it in piles. They were separating the remains by metal type so that it might be recycled. He noticed that most of the walls were gone and there was debris hip-deep nearly everywhere he looked. He did note that most of the frame was probably salvageable. In fact, a lot of it had barely been damaged. The Decepticons had only gone for the core and ignored the rest of it. Then he saw something that gave him a glimmer of hope.  
  
He wasn't sure what it was-the light of the morning, the position of the fallen walls-but something about the way the ruined structure suddenly appeared sparked him imagination. An idea that, if they pulled it off, would mean the Decepticons would hard pressed to do something like this again.  
  
He transformed again and drove as fast as he could to catch up with Ironhide. When he arrived he noticed there were two new bodies, Gears and Hoist. Ironhide was still with Ratchet and Wheeljack by Omega Supreme's side. The large Autobot was in separate pieces, as though he was in mid- transformation into his defense base mode. The two technicians had stepped back.  
  
"Well, that's about all we can to until we can get another motivator," Wheeljack was saying. "But we can't get that until we clear those rocks out of the way so I can get spare parts from inside."  
  
Ratchet nodded in agreement. "At least Omega Supreme's condition has stabilized. For a moment there it was not good. It's lucky we were able to force a partial transformation into his transformation cog."  
  
Jazz looked at the pieces of Omega Supreme. By transforming him, even part of the way, it separated the most heavily damaged-and therefore the most potentially deadly-pieces from vital components. He could be kept alive in parts, but not as a whole. Jazz complimented Ratchet and Wheeljack for their genius. The two Autobot technicians smiled, but then moved on to help the other critically injured comrades.  
  
Jazz turned to Ironhide. "I was just down at the plant site and I saw something that would make Megatron think twice about attacking the Autobots again."  
  
"What are you talkin' about, Jazz?" Ironhide said as he started drilling through some of the rubble that blocked the way into the Ark.  
  
He explained his idea without too many details-in this early stage there weren't many anyway. When he was finished he asked Ironhide what he thought.  
  
"Are you out of your mind?"  
  
"What's the problem? It's not impossible to pull off and then ol' Megatron won't be able to bother us anymore. I think it's a great idea."  
  
Ironhide paused in his drilling and cocked his head to the side slightly as he looked at Jazz. "You better have Ratchet check you out, I think your circuits are sizzled from that fall. First of all, we don't have the kind of power that it would take to do it. And second, there are too many injured. Also, I don't know about you but I wouldn't know the first step of starting something like that. Do I need to keep goin' here?"  
  
Jazz shook his head. "I'm not saying it'll be an easy job, I'm just saying that it's a way to take care of the Deceptichumps."  
  
"Yeah, after we finish it. Look around and tell me how long that'll be." Ironhide started drilling through the rubble that blocked the Ark's entrance again, collapsing a large chunk of the obstruction. "The first thing we need to do is get back inside the Ark and figure out a way to get that power core away from Megatron, or at least destroy the parts before he gets a chance to use them to cause too much damage."  
  
Jazz agreed and he began to help Ironhide drill, hoping that there would be some way to implement his plan. It would save a lot of lives, he thought. 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 06  
Metal spires and other completely mechanized structures scrolled beneath Skyfire. The ever nighttime, starlit sky remained unchanged above him as he traveled over the surface of the Cybertronian moon. He wasn't sure what he was searching for, but any sign of Autobot life would be comforting. So far, however, there was nothing. "What did you think?" he muttered to himself. "There was going to be a big sign with lights that said 'Autobots hiding here?'" He kept flying, though; he couldn't allow himself to get discouraged. The moon was small but not so small that he could search all of it. He was already running low on energy and he hadn't been looking for very long. The fight had drained him of most of his reserve.  
  
The fight.  
  
The images of the Autobot shuttle crashing wouldn't stop flashing through his mind. The thoughts of his friends and Optimus Prime dying kept infiltrating his thoughts no matter how he tried to focus on something else. Lost in thoughts as he was he did not see the attack coming.  
  
An orange laser blast caught him on his right wing and sent him into a spin and the metallic ground rushed up to meet him. He hadn't been flying all that high, but he had been going rather fast. The speed sent him sliding across the surface of the moon for about a mega-mile. If he had been flying any higher he would have been finished. Slowly, painfully, he transformed into robot mode and inspected his surroundings, holding his head. He was lucky to be alive.  
  
He had come to rest in the middle of a street, structures towering above him to either side. Higher up he saw walkways and overpasses crisscrossing between the buildings and leading to others. It was all a bit overwhelming and gave one the image of a construction engineer gone mad, then he thought of the Constructicons and figured that that assumption may not be far off. He was standing at the end of a long trench that he had dug during his crash. Even a Decepticon missing his eyes would be able to find him if he stayed where he was.  
  
"Where did that attack come from?" he asked himself. He peered back the way he had come from and saw two figures approaching. Skyfire lacked the power to magnify his vision, but he didn't need to. The two figures were approaching, him, walking with caution. Good, that would give him a few moments to think. He was far too damaged to transform and there was no way he could outrun them on foot. He also didn't have enough energon to use for his weapons for more than a few micro-seconds. He was left with no choice, he would fight them hand-to-hand for as long as he could.  
  
The two assailants were closer now and he could make out more details. First and foremost, he noticed one of them had his weapon drawn and the other pointed him arms toward him in a threatening manner-obviously he had a built-in weapon system.  
  
The one with the gun was two shades of blue and it appeared as though he was holding himself back just to keep pace with the other. "Great," Skyfire mused. "This guy just can't wait to kick my tail wing." The other was red with orange-was it flames?-painted on his chest and a yellow sort of wing rising from his back.  
  
Skyfire was filled with relief when he saw the Cybertronian symbol for industry and prosperity emblazoned on both of their chests. They were Autobots. He wouldn't have to fight after all, which was fine with him. He'd had enough fighting for today.  
  
"On your feet, tiny," the red one said with a haughty demeanor. "Looks, like we caught ourselves a whopper this time, huh, Blurr?"  
  
Skyfire spoke up, relief more apparent in his voice than he would have liked, "I thought you guys were Decepticons." The red Autobot cut him off again.  
  
"You should be so lucky. Nope. No help from your pals this time, Deceptichump." He and the other one-Blurr-pulled him to his feet and forced him to begin walking forward.  
  
"Look," Skyfire pointed to his chest, "I'm not a Decepticon. I'm an Autobot, just like you."  
  
They stopped and glared at him. "You're not at all like me, Decepticon. You've tried this trick too many times to count. You must think us Autobots are a bunch of idiots to fall for this trick so many times. Changing you insignia is not that hard to do. Changing your nature is, though. Now let's get moving. I know some people who'll love to talk to you."  
  
"But, I'm really not . . ."  
  
He was cut off by the one that had been called Blurr, this time by pointing a gun in his face. He spoke quickly, very quickly, as though his voice modulator was over-torqued. "You listen to what Hot Rod says, because if you don't listen to what Hot Rod says you're going to get blasted and I don't think that's something you would like us to do. Now, please be quiet and don't say anything else, okay, okay, okay?"  
  
Skyfire thought he made out the name or the red Autobot in that jumble of quickly spoken words-Hot Rod.  
  
Hot Rod pulled out a device and pointed it at him and activated it. A pink ring of energy appeared around Skyfire's wrists and body, immobilizing his arms. From the ring around his chest a ray extended to a protrusion from the device-a leash. Hot Rod pulled on his end and Skyfire had no choice but to follow.  
  
He was led down several streets and back alleys, all of which looked extremely similar, but he reminded himself that that was the way of Cybertron. Built to chaotic perfection. He decided it would be best if he kept quiet for a while, since it was doing him absolutely no good. Hot Rod was apparently too convinced of his guilt and Blurr seemed contented to go along with Hot Rod's assumption. His only choice now was to wait, and try to reason with whoever it was they were taking him to see. If they meant to kill him they would have done so already. For an instant he thought that they would torture him. No, he forced the thought away. That was not the way of the Autobots; they did not take and torture prisoners. The Decepticons did that; he was confusing his past with his present again. The fact that he had once been a Decepticon still haunted every so often, and this was turning out to be one of those times.  
  
They eventually stopped at the end of a long street that dead-ended into a solid wall. Blurr kicked over some scrap that was piled rather conspicuously in the corner of the alley, conspicuous because the rest of the alley was spotless. Beneath the scrap was a control panel. With unbelievable speed Blurr keyed in a long and complicated code. When he was finished there was a sharp hiss as a small door opened in the previously blank wall in front of him.  
  
Hot Rod and Blurr ducked inside and pulled Skyfire through after them. It was a very tight squeeze and he thought that he wasn't going to make it, but after some finagling he managed get himself inside. The area he entered was thankfully more spacious and Skyfire was even able to stand upright, though he couldn't see very far beyond the minimal lighting provided by the open doorway. The hatch slid shut behind them and darkness fell over the group for a moment. Horizontal cylinders placed along the walls slowly came to life, illuminating the mostly barren walls, floor, and ceiling of the corridor. The lights were placed every fifteen paces or so and continued around a bend in the distance. The hallway was very long and wide giving them enough room to walk abreast, which Hot Rod and Blurr found the need to do. They flanked Skyfire like a he was a prisoner-which he was of course-and began to herd him down the passage. Skyfire noticed there were skid marks all along the corridor from the tires of a transport-or possibly from racing.  
  
As they walked, he saw that the corridor sloped gently downward. Wherever they were leading him it was beneath the surface of the moon. They walked for a long while, through the seemingly endless hallway, the surroundings unchanging. The walls stayed a uniform metallic blue and the lights remained at the same level at the same intervals. Only three times did another hall branch off of the one they were in, but these were ignored. He tried to see down these side-passages, but the lighting that was present along their current course didn't appear active in the other hallways. Hot Rod and Blurr did not speak to him or even each other at all during the entire long trip, though they did keep passing worried glances between them. The only noise was the echoes of their own metallic footsteps.  
  
On a more positive side of things, the walk gave Skyfire the time he needed to think of what he could do to escape, but every time he tried to come up with a plan the shuttle crash entered his mind and he had to start over again. In short, he was getting nowhere fast in regards to a breakout.  
  
Finally, the small group came to a large door that looked better suited to a warehouse, but a closer inspection revealed it to be thick and reinforced enough to be an entrance to a bomb shelter. This time Hot Rod keyed the lock controls, but the door did not open, at least not immediately. After a few moments there was the loud "thunk" of a magnetic lock was released and the door slid open from a split in the middle on a diagonal, revealing another thick door just behind the first with the same characteristics. This secondary door then slid open as the first had only, at the opposite angle. Beyond was a large room that, for some reason he couldn't place, filled Skyfire with hope. The first feeling of hope he had felt since arriving. Blurr and Hot Rod pushed him inside.  
  
The walls inside were covered with various monitors, computer terminals, and blinking technology. There were several large consoles standing in the center of the room and some against the far walls. Wiring draped down from several loose panels in the ceiling and large knots of cable snaked across the floor. At the far end of the chamber there was a raised platform with a large semicircle of computer terminals upon it. This was obviously the central hub of controls for the whole room, and possibly the entire complex.  
  
Standing on the platform behind the terminals was a large Autobot who was clearly the leader of this group judging by how he carried himself. His large red, white, and blue figure was imposing; his presence carried a weight that could be felt. Overall he was one of the most impressive figures Skyfire had seen next to Optimus Prime. All of the force behind his powerful gaze was being directed at Skyfire at the moment. He felt the illogical urge to flee rather than have this Autobot displeased with him.  
  
The lead Autobot moved out from behind the computer banks and approached the trio. When he spoke, Skyfire was astounded to find his voice was smooth, gentle, and unhurried. He did not sound menacing and foreboding as he originally thought it might be. "What have you brought home with you this time, Hot Rod?"  
  
"Nothing much. I don't think I'll be too disappointed if you tell me I can't keep it," Hot Rod answered sarcastically.  
  
The large Autobot approached Skyfire and inspected him closely, his gaze lingering on the Autobot insignia. The edges around it were raised from when he switched sides and Wheeljack had to replace it-the seams were still visible. That was not a good thing, he thought. He feared the worst; clearly they were going to think him a fraud-a spy for the Decepticons. Therefore he very was surprised when the big robot looked to Hot Rod and said, "Deactivate the containment unit."  
  
Hot Rod and Blurr gasped audibly. "I don't know if you've thought about this enough, because if you've thought about it you would know that this is a Decepticons and Decepticons aren't very good news and good news is just the kind of news we need now!" Blurr rattled off.  
  
"Do you really think that's such a good idea?" Hot Rod asked.  
  
He received a nod in response. Hot Rod looked up at his leader and with an uneasy look, sighed in exasperation, and pressed a sequence of keys on the hand held device. In an instant the restraining energy rings winked out of existence. The leader figure circled Skyfire once more before stopping in front of him. He noticed that the Autobot was as tall as he was, and he was being looked in the eye, something few Autobots had the stature to do.  
  
"What are you doing around here?" Skyfire was asked.  
  
He thought a moment on how to respond, sensing that his answers were critical. Finally, he decided to go with the truth. "I'm looking for a way to stop a new Decepticon weapon."  
  
Skyfire was scrutinized for a moment, as if they were having a hard time believing. "That seems an enormous task for just one Autobot."  
  
He sighed. "I did come here with several others, but we were attacked and our ship was shot down. It crash landed on the moon."  
  
Hot Rod quickly jumped in, pointing a finger right at Skyfire's chest. "There was no crash! It would have come up on the seismic monitors! The game's over, Decepticon!" He swiveled his head to his leader. "You're not going to believe this guy are you, Ultra Magnus?"  
  
Ultra Magnus. At the mention of the name Skyfire knew he had found what he was looking for. Optimus Prime had mentioned this name with a great deal of respect. Ever since the Autobots crashed on Earth so long ago his fate was unknown. But any friend of Optimus was surely a friend of his. He hoped.  
  
"Calm down, Hot Rod. He didn't even say the was this moon." Ultra Magnus addressed Skyfire once again. "What happened to the others?"  
  
Feeling he found a safe haven an overwhelming sense of relief came over Skyfire. These Autobots would help him; they would be able to find a way to destroy the Decepticon Swarm and save the Earth. In his relief Skyfire forgot himself momentarily, and his words came in a surge. "Ultra Magnus! I came here from Earth with Optimus Prime! We were looking for a way to stop a powerful new weapon the Decepticons have just received, but when we arrived we were attacked and our ship crashed. I was the only Autobot with the ability to fly so I-"  
  
He was cut off once again by Hot Rod. "Pretty convenient that you're the only survivor. It gives your story no loose ends. If you're such the heroic Autobot how is it that you didn't save any of the others?"  
  
"I left the ship to defend it before it was shot down. By the time I drew the enemy fire off the Decepticons had called in reinforcements. I was too far from the ship because of my own fight when they were shot down. All I could do is watch or be destroyed." He looked down at Hot Rod with a cruel expression. "If you want to condemn me so badly why even ask me any questions." He looked back to Ultra Magnus. "If you think I'm a Decepticon just kill me and get it over with!"  
  
"I never said I thought you were a Decepticon," Ultra Magnus said gently before turning to address Hot Rod in a more gruff voice. "That's enough out of you. Why don't you and Blurr go and get Arcee from the Ops Center and bring her down here."  
  
Blurr looked up at Ultra Magnus with a look of relief, probably because this little incident was finally resolved. Or so it seemed. "If you think you're going to be all right Ultra Magnus then I believe you're going to be all right, because if you can trust yourself then who can you trust? I trust your judgment every time, Ultra Magnus so I'll go get Arcee and be back here before you know it!"  
  
Hot Rod grabbed Blurr and began to herd him out the door. "Come on motor mouth, let's get up the Ops Center." The two Autobots left through a door opposite where the three of them had entered.  
  
After they had gone Ultra Magnus asked, "What is your name?"  
  
"Skyfire."  
  
"And you came here from Earth with Optimus Prime?"  
  
Skyfire indicated it was so.  
  
Ultra Magnus fell silent for a time, seemingly lost in thought. When no other questions were forthcoming Skyfire asked, "Why didn't you think I was a Decepticon, like the others did?"  
  
"I know Decepticon work and that," he said pointing at the Autobot emblem on Skyfire's chest, "is not it."  
  
Perplexed he asked, "How can you tell?"  
  
"The Decepticons would have done the job much more perfectly than that. It looks like you were butchered or the materials to do it properly were not available."  
  
Skyfire nodded in understanding, but somewhat in awe at the reasoning. Hesitantly he decided to ask, "Does this mean that you'll help me?"  
  
Walking back behind the set of computer banks he sat back down. "Yes. Or at least we'll try." Then after a moment he added, "Oh, and don't worry about Hot Rod, he's just overeager. He's not really all that bad once you get to know him. There is, however, the more urgent matter of your friends in the shuttle and Optimus Prime. We're going to have to go after them."  
  
"What? How can we do that? We'd get atomized before we got close enough," Skyfire said.  
  
Ultra Magnus shook his head. "We have a space bridge to the other moon set up so that we could evacuate in an emergency. We can get to the other moon and back without the Decepticons even knowing we were there. But first, what is this problem that brought you to Cybertron?"  
  
Skyfire related the story of the Decepticons' new weapon and how it nearly defeated them. Based on the small amount of information they had learned from Teletraan One it was decided that it was likely of Cybertronian origin, so the solution had to lie there was well.  
  
"That sounds like Optimus Prime all right," Magnus said proudly. "That's even more proof that you're on the right side. A Decepticon couldn't have described Prime so exactly."  
  
"So you really did know Optimus Prime."  
  
Magnus's smile widened. "Of course. We fought side by side for a very long time before he left Cybertron to look for a new source of energy all those years ago. We had given up hope on him, although we did learn that he had been back to Cybertron a few times since then. His main priority, though, is to protect the Earth so the Decepticons don't gain a new source of power. You know the rest. The Decepticons, under Shockwave's command, were sent out to find another supply of energy and they succeeded. The energy was brought back and they Decepticons took control of Cybertron."  
  
Ultra Magnus was right. Skyfire knew all of this and it made him furious. Furious that at one time he had been part of their twisted schemes. If the Decepticons were not stopped they would spread through the universe like a virus and conquer everything. No planet would be safe from their threat.  
  
A door opened to the left of Ultra Magnus and three Autobots came through. Skyfire recognized Blurr and Hot Rod but the third he did not. It was all the more surprising that the third was a female.  
  
Almost all of the female Autobots had been destroyed, only a precious few remained, and they were on Cybertron itself-or so Skyfire had thought. Arcee was a sleek pink and white Autobot with gentle, caring features. She studied him for a moment before asking, "This is the Decepticon that Hot Rod captured?"  
  
Hot Rod grimaced under the reproachful look that Ultra Magnus gave him, but nothing more was said about the issue. "Arcee, this is Skyfire," Magnus said. Skyfire nodded a respectful greeting to her, recognizing her as the rarity she was. "He's from Earth and came here with Optimus Prime, himself." She looked shocked at the mention of Optimus, but she quickly composed herself. "They were shot down by Decepticons over the other moon. We have to go and locate the crash site immediately."  
  
"What are you talking about, Magnus? Have you rewired yourself?" Hot Rod burst out. "What about rescuing Kup and Springer? Why would we need to go to the crash site?"  
  
Ultra Magnus answered in an even tone, apparently he was used to such outbursts from Hot Rod. "For two reasons. First, we have to see if we can help anyone who may be left alive. Any crash survivors will be in desperate need for repairs."  
  
Skyfire felt a pang of anger toward himself for not even allowing for the possibility that they were alive, he just assumed that the crash destroyed them all.  
  
"Second, and most importantly," Magnus continued, "if Optimus Prime is indeed dead we need to secure the Autobot Matrix of Leadership before it gets into Decepticon hands."  
  
Yet another possibility that he had not thought of was the Matrix being taken. If the Decepticons managed to open it, no matter how unlikely, they would have a highly concentrated source of power with which to rule. Even worse, the Autobots would not have the wisdom and guidance it provided in the most desperate of times. Now things became more critical. They had to get to the moon and find the Matrix, if nothing else.  
  
"You can go if you want to, Magnus," Hot Rod still insisted. "I'm going to rescue Kup and Springer. We've been planning this for too long to back out at the last astro-second. I'm not turning my back on my friends on the word of a Decepticon spy."  
  
Ultra Magnus began to respond before Skyfire cut in. "For the last time, Hot Rod, I am not a Decepticon! I was at one time, yes, but I realized the cruelty of their ways. I sought Optimus Prime and converted. I want to help you set your friends free, but we need the Matrix. If Optimus Prime and the others that arrived with me are still alive they will help you on your rescue mission, I promise. I'm sure the extra help will increase your chances of success, just like your help will get the Matrix back and save lives."  
  
Hot Rod stood with his eyes flicking back and forth between Skyfire and Ultra Magnus, confusion and indecision plaguing his expression. Finally he gave in. "Are you sure you didn't know Ultra Magnus before now?" Skyfire smiled, but Hot Rod wasn't finished. "I still don't trust you entirely, but I respect Ultra Magnus's judge of character so I'll tolerate you . . . for now." He walked toward the door that they had brought Arcee through. "If you need me I'll be getting supplies for the trip. C'mon, Blurr, I'm going to need help."  
  
As the door slid shut behind them Skyfire asked, "What was that supposed to mean?"  
  
Magnus smiled back at him. "It means you did a good job explaining things to him." He still wasn't sure he was clear on things, but he accepted it just the same. "Let go get some weapons, Skyfire. We'd better be prepared for the worst. Arcee, you go get the space bridge ready for transport, we'll catch up in a little while."  
  
The female Autobot left the command room through the same door Blurr and Hot Rod had. Magnus moved to a small panel on the opposite wall and keyed a sequence. There was a hiss and a wall of computer monitors and consoles swung open, revealing a high and wide corridor beyond. "This way," Skyfire was instructed.  
  
Ultra Magnus transformed into a large transport of sorts. Nothing that Skyfire was used to from Earth. A large sleek, formed "cab" was inserted into a large trailer bed that closed up around like a trailer. Several weapons were mounted on the outside of the blue "trailer." All in all he looked like a bulkier alien version of Optimus Prime, Skyfire decided. With a whirring of gears the sides of the trailer folded down and formed a flat-bed that could be used to transporting cargo that was just too large to fit inside. "Hop on," Magnus said. "For you to transform in here would be useless. Besides, where we're going it's a little too far to walk."  
  
Ultra Magnus sank a bit lower on his wheels when Skyfire climbed up onto the trailer, but he could tell that his weight wasn't anywhere near his capacity. He Magnus know that he was ready and they sped off down the passageway. After a drive though a maze of passages that Skyfire estimated would have been about fifteen miles, using Earth measurement they came to another large door, this one even more heavily sealed than the one he had been led to upon his arrival. He was beginning to get a scope of the complex's size and scope. The Autobots we're really entrenched here, able to take on just about anything.  
  
After a quick transformation a switch was pulled and the heavy door opened. The lights slowly came up to full in the warehouse beyond, revealing weapons- weapons of every conceivable size and shape, of every purpose and design. He looked to Magnus questioningly.  
  
"Every time we raid a Decepticon power base or are attacked we see to it that we bring a little something back for ourselves. Just in case." Magnus smiled darkly.  
  
They began to gather items off of the various shelves and stockpiles. They went for guns and cannons, as well as bombs and other nasty explosives. Skyfire noted a device that stood out from the others. It was a small, spherical device and completely white, there was not visible trigger as no markings appeared on its surface. What made it stand apart from all of the other devices was it did not look gruesome. Most of the other guns and explosive devices had a sinister look to them, covered in spikes or made to eject shrapnel for extra damage. This one looked benign next to the others, almost friendly, in fact, gleaming in the soft lights of the room.  
  
Ultra Magnus came up behind Skyfire as he studied the mechanism. "Be careful with that particular one," he said cautiously taking it from Skyfire's hands. He gently set it back on the shelf where it was found.  
  
"What is that thing, anyway?"  
  
"It's an electromagnetic bomb. If that thing is set off and you're within range, you're done for. If the explosion itself doesn't get you the resulting electromagnetic shock wave will."  
  
"What would the shock wave do to you?"  
  
"Fry every micron of your circuitry and erase all of your programming, right down to your BIOS. You would be an empty shell, devoid of life. We would have to start from scratch and even then you would be a different Autobot and never know anything happened. It's pretty bad. Luckily, that's the only one we have and we've never had enough call to use it. Even the Decepticons think twice about using that thing." Ultra Magnus finished grimly.  
  
Skyfire looked at the seemingly innocent weapon's exterior that beguiled it's insidiousness. Finally he moved on and began to take other weapons from the shelf, leaving the electromagnetic weapon where it lie; he didn't think they would need something as deadly as that for this mission. After a short time he was informed they were stocked enough and they should be on their way. As they walked back to the entrance he fleetingly thought how satisfying it would be to stick that bomb up Megatron's . . .  
  
"Skyfire! Are you coming?" With a start he looked up at Magnus who was waiting for him at the door. He hadn't even realized he had stopped.  
  
"Uh, yeah. Lets go." They loaded the weapons onto Ultra Magnus and drove back to the command center. Arcee, Blurr and Hot Rod were waiting for them when they got back. The other three Autobots had a small pile of boxes and computer equipment in front of them, apparently the supplies for the journey.  
  
"Are we ready to go now?" Hot Rod asked impatiently.  
  
Skyfire realized that Hot Rod's anger only came from being young and out of his concern for his friends. Not out of callousness. "Yes, I think we're ready. Ultra Magnus?"  
  
They passed out the weapons to the others who strapped them onto shoulders, around their waists or placed them into packs. Soon they all stood, bristling with weaponry and looking ready for just about anything the Decepticons could throw at them. Ultra Magnus pulled a lever on the side of the large gun he held and let it snap back. A high-pitched whine filled the air and faded as the weapon powered up. "Let's go."  
  
The group left the room by the far door and walked down several winding halls. Skyfire was overwhelmed by the complexity of the structure and after a short time all of the halls began to look identical, the only difference being doors were placed in different locations. He wished they had something of this caliber on Earth.  
  
They came to a small, dark room with a half-sphere standing upright so that the hollow of it faced them and the convex side faced the wall. It was constructed of a kind of crisscrossing of thin, dark blue, metal beams, somehow woven together. The entire thing rested on a square base. There was a small console to the left of the entrance, but otherwise the room was empty.  
  
"Blurr," Magnus said. "Did you bring your portable SBC?"  
  
"Of course I did Ultra Magnus, if you asked me to get the SBC then I got the SBC, I haven't let you down yet, have I Magnus, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm?" Blurr quickly pulled out a small rectangular device covered in various colored buttons and a small monitor at the top.  
  
"What's that?" Skyfire asked Arcee.  
  
"It a portable SBC, just like Ultra Magnus said."  
  
A little confused he went on. "Yes, but what's a portable SBC?"  
  
Arcee suddenly looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I forgot that you were from Earth. It's a portable space bridge control unit. It allows all of us to go and then remotely bring us back. With our numbers as small as they are, we can get spread out pretty thinly. So, we need to have as many Autobots as possible for most of our missions or energy raids. This way we all can go to help instead of having someone stay behind to work the controls of the destination space bridge."  
  
Skyfire thought Arcee's description of their missions sounded a lot like Decepticon activity. Suddenly, it hit him. These Autobots were struggling for survival on their own homeworld in the form of a rebellion. They had been reduced to the same position as the Decepticons had been on Earth. The difference being, here the Autobots of Cybertron had a right to the energon they took. It was their home too, after all.  
  
Blurr stood in front of the console and activated the space bridge control. The area in the hollow of the half-sphere began to shimmer and deep violet ripples appeared within its confines, as though the sphere was now filled with liquid and a pebble had just been dropped into the center. The expanding concentric ripples stopped as if frozen and then, in what looked like a trick of perspective, appeared to pull back into the distance, forming a grid work funnel. The bridge was opened.  
  
"The coordinates are set, Ultra Magnus," Arcee said.  
  
Skyfire began to feel an uneasiness about doing this. He was apprehensive to see what lay on the other side of the bridge, but some part of him did not want to know the fate of the Autobots that had crashed on the other moon. He realized that this type of thinking was not doing any good and if he kept it up his logic circuits would need maintenance.  
  
"It's about time," Hot Rod said as he ran forward and jumped headfirst into the vortex. Blurr followed in a blue flash and Arcee went through after him. Ultra Magnus waited, gesturing to the portal.  
  
"After you," he said.  
  
"Thanks," Skyfire said with only the slightest hint of sarcasm and stepped into the space bridge. 


End file.
